Corporate Governance

Reston, Va. -- comScore promoted president Serge Matta to the role of CEO as the digital measurement firm swung to a profit in the fourth quarter.

Matta fills the position occupied by Dr. Magid Abraham who, along with Gian Fulgoni, co-founded the company. Abraham will relinquish the CEO role and serve as executive chairman of the board of directors, assuming a position currently held by Fulgoni who will become chairman emeritus. All appointments are effective March 1.

New York - A new Verizon report has found that too many businesses, following their annual assessment for meeting the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, fail to maintain ongoing compliance – putting the businesses at an increased risk for data breaches, and financial and reputational damages.

Chicago — Jones Lang LaSalle has announced the appointment of Josh Burmeister as executive VP and Gulf Coast retail brokerage lead and Ms. Buff Teague as VP. They will cover Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and the Florida Panhandle, partnering with John Bemis, Southeast retail market lead and John Lambert, Fla., retail market lead.

Burmeister and Teague join JLL from SRS Real Estate Partners.

While at SRS, Burmeister served as market leader for operations in Mobile, Ala., and co-market leader for Birmingham Ala., operations.

Atlanta — Flip Flop Shops has announced plans to develop 25 shops throughout South Africa, Zimbabwe and Mauritius. The new shops stem from a master franchise agreement with Barefoot, regional retail group. The first new shop is expected to open by mid-year, with additional shops following over the next 10 years.

Flip Flop Shops has nearly 100 locations globally plus more than 150 shops in the development pipeline, not including those within this new franchise agreement.

 

Atlanta - The Home Depot has begun filling more than 80,000 seasonal positions as it prepares for spring, the company's busiest selling season. Job opportunities are available on a market-by-market basis, based on individual store needs and geographical variance in climate.

Home Depot says college students, retirees, veterans and reservists are encouraged to apply. All applicants must apply online. The retailer also hired 80,000 seasonal employees in spring 2012.

Charlotte, N.C. – Family Dollar Stores Inc. has renewed its in-store merchandising services contract with SPAR Group Inc. for two years. SPAR Group has been servicing Family Dollar Stores since 2012 across more than 8,000 locations.

SPAR Group has completed various merchandising service programs including schematic resets, revisions, item cut-ins, returns, audits and recalls across nearly all categories including grocery, pet, party, household & chemical and paper goods.

Grand Rapids, Mich. – Meijer is launching a major initiative to upgrade its fashion offerings. The omnichannel initiative includes regional advertising in national fashion magazines, the distribution of a spring Look Book, and the use of social media, including Instagram, as well as a new website, meijerstyle.com.

Meijer’s style team is led by Lynn Hempe, the retailer's group VP of softlines, and includes her buying team and input from fashion advisor, Mariana Keros,

San Bernadino, Calif. – Stater Bros. Holdings Inc. reported a substantial increase in net income, for the first quarter of fiscal 2014. Net income more than doubled to $11.1 million from $5.4 million in the same period a year earlier. Net sales rose almost 2% to $984 million, to $968.7 million.  

Same-store sales grew 1.4%. Jack H. Brown, chairman, president and CEO of Stater Bros., credited the supermarket retailer’s maintaining of a low-price market strategy during difficult economic times with boosting financial performance.

Hanoi, Vietnam – Vietnamese property developer and mall operator Vingroup JSC is reportedly preparing to launch an e-commerce venture. According to Bloomberg, Le Thi Thu Thuy vice chairwoman of Vingroup, has left that position to lead an online subsidiary called VinE-com.

VinE-com will reportedly sell a wide range of products to Vietnamese consumers and compete locally with global e-commerce retailers including Ebay and China’s Alibaba. Thuy told Bloomberg VinE-com is looking to acquire other Vietnamese e-commerce providers.

Indianapolis – Hhgregg has promoted Kevin Lyons to senior VP e-commerce. Lyons joined Hhgregg in May 2013 as VP e-commerce, and has since led the e-commerce team’s creation of an online development and promotional strategy.

Kevin Lyons to senior VP e-commerce. Lyons joined Hhgregg in May 2013 as VP e-commerce, and has since lead the e-commerce team’s creation of an ambitious online development and promotional strategy.