Corporate Governance

HARRISBURG, Pa. — The Environmental Protection Agency has recognized Ahold USA for its efforts to reduce food waste, the agency said.

The EPA said it recognized Ahold for its contributions to the Food Recovery Challenge, which encourages organizations to donate and divert as much of their excess food as possible, which the agency said helps protect the environment and feed needy people. Ahold USA owns the Giant Food Stores of Carlisle, Pa., Giant Food of Landover, Md., and Stop & Shop supermarket banners, as well as the online grocer Peapod.

New York -- Embattled Southern celebrity chef Paula Deen is opening a headquarters and store in Clarence, N.Y., a suburb of Buffalo, this February. The shop, Paula Deen Foods, will include a showroom designed to resemble Deen's home kitchen and offer products from her branded line of goods.

San Francisco -- Gap's new global marketing campaign, "Make Love,” includes print, outdoor, direct mail, social and cinema, as well as new digital content daily.

New York – More than half of Americans (53%) prefer general purpose gift cards as opposed to branded gift cards. In addition, new survey data from Bankrate.com shows that almost two in three Americans have given a gift card, and more than three in four have received one.

The most common value of gift cards, both given and received, is between $25 and $50. People older than 65 and those between 18 and 29 years old are the least likely to give a gift card. As income level increases, Americans are more likely to give and receive gift cards.

Bentonville, Ark. – Wal-Mart Stores has reportedly tested more than 200 factories with which it does business in Bangladesh and found safety issues at 32 of them. According to Reuters, Wal-Mart sent out an email saying that 30 of those 32 factories have corrected the issues since their discovery.

Woonsocket, R.I. -- CVS Caremark has appointed Tracy Bahl to the position of executive VP, health plans. In this role, Bahl will lead the teams responsible for supporting health plan clients while also offering health plans guidance.

Mooresville, N.C. -- Angela F. Braly, 52, has been named to the Lowe’s board of directors, with a term expiring at Lowe’s 2014 annual meeting of shareholders. This brings Lowe’s board of directors to 12 members, 11 of whom are independent.

New York -- American Retail Capital Properties (ARCP) has appointed Glenn Kindred as executive VP of its restaurants division. Kindred will join Nicholas S. Schorsch, executive chairman and CEO, Lisa Beeson, COO, Brian S. Block, CFO, and Lisa Pavelka McAlister, chief accounting officer, as part of ARCP's self-managed executive team. Joining ARCP from GE Capital, Mr. Kindred will oversee ARCP's growing portfolio of restaurant and quick service assets.  

Plymouth, Minn. -- The Shareholders Foundation, Inc. has filed a lawsuit on behalf of certain purchasers of Tile Shop common stock over alleged violations of federal securities laws in connection with certain allegedly false and misleading statements made between August 22, 2012 and November 13, 2013. The plaintiff alleges that the defendants failed to disclose that one of its largest suppliers, Beijing Pingxiu, is an undisclosed related company secretly controlled by Fumitake Nishi, the brother-in-law of the company's CEO and a Tile Shop employee.

Clearwater, Fla. – Recreational boat retailer MarineMax has named Frances Allen, executive VP and chief brand officer for Denny’s Corporation, to its board of directors. Prior to joining Denny’s, Allen was chief marketing officer for Dunkin Donuts. Her prior roles also include managing marketing efforts at Sony Ericsson Mobil Communications, Pepsi-Cola North America and Frito-Lay.