Strategy

Los Angeles — CBRE Group has appointed Chris Ludeman global president of Capital Markets.

Ludeman will oversee the global growth and integration of CBRE’s Capital Markets Service business line, which includes Investment Sales, Debt & Structure Finance and Capital Advisors activities worldwide, working with CBRE’s Capital Markets leaders around he world.

A 33-year veteran of CBRE, Ludeman most recently served as president of the Capital Markets business in the Americas.

East Moriches, N.Y. -- Solutions Management, a leading national retail and corporate maintenance company, announced the appointment of Michael DiTaranto as its new senior operations manager.

Fort Worth, Texas -- Pier 1 Imports has named Eric Hunter as executive VP of marketing, responsible for the company’s brand image and integrated marketing efforts. He most recently served as senior VP of marketing and acting chief marketing officer for J.C. Penney Co., where he led strategy, research, creative, media, customer relationship management and digital direction for the JCP enterprise brand and all JCP-owned brands.

Solutions Management, a leading national retail and corporate maintenance company, has appointed Michael DiTaranto as the company’s senior operations manager.

SMI partners with retailers and corporations to provide maintenance services which include floor care, window cleaning, high dusting, power washing and janitorial services. Recovery services include emergency services, mold testing and remediation, flood restoration and fire restoration.

Atlanta – Independent bookstores are reportedly growing sales at a healthy rate despite stiff competition from Amazon.com. According to an article in Fortune, American Booksellers Association figures show that independent bookstore sales in the U.S. grew 8% last year and are on track to grow at a similar pace this year.

Retailers often assume that meeting the needs of the Millennial generation through technology is a highly specialized endeavor due to the unique experience these “digital natives” have had growing up in an IT-centric world. But before making that assumption, retailers should consider these words author Joyce Maynard, then a Yale freshman, wrote in her 1972 New York Times essay “An 18-Year-Old Looks Back on Life:”

Columbus, Ohio — Designer Show Warehouse will open a new store in Eatontown, N.J. on Sept. 26.

The company currently operates 383 stores in 42 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. DSW also supplies footwear to 355 leased locations in the U.S.

Sunbury, Pa. -- Weis Markets announced that company president and CEO David J. Hepfinger has left the company to pursue other interests. Company vice chairman Jonathan H. Weis replaces him as interim CEO. Robert F. Weis remains as company chairman.

Hepfinger has also resigned from the company's board of directors. As part of the reorganization, Kurt Schertle, executive VP, sales and merchandising will report directly to Weis who will also oversee the company's real estate/store development, finance and human resources' teams.