Events

New York -- Hudson’s Bay and Lord & Taylor President Liz Rodbell is among a group of high powered female executive due to be honored as Outstanding Mothers at a New York City event on May 7 emceed by HSN CEO and 2010 Outstanding Mother honoree Mindy Grossman.

Other honorees include Meredith Vieira, host and executive producer, “The Meredith Vieira Show”; Joanna Coles, editor-in-chief, Cosmopolitan and editorial director, Hearst Magazines; and Dee Ocleppo Hilfiger, designer, creative director at Dee Ocleppo.

Families this year are ready to splurge on jewelry, flowers, gift cards, brunch and apparel for mom.

According to NRF’s 2015 Mother’s Day Spending Survey conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics, Americans will spend an average of $172.63 on mom this year, up nearly $10 from $162.94 last year and the highest amount in the survey’s 12-year history. Total spending is expected to reach $21.2 billion.

New York -- According to NRF’s 2015 Mother’s Day Spending Survey conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics, Americans will spend an average of $172.63 on mom this year, up nearly $10 from $162.94 last year and the highest amount in the survey’s 12-year history. Total spending is expected to reach $21.2 billion.

Analytics leader SAS has long promised customers “the power to know” and now a major enhancement to data visualization capabilities means retailers don’t have to be a Ph.D to do things faster and more effectively with their massive volumes of data.

Boca Raton, Fla. -- Office Depot will urge its stockholders to support a merger with Staples by asking them to vote in favor of the $6.3 billion acquisition by Staples at an annual meeting. Industry insiders say the merger could help the pair solidify their positions in the office supplies market and fend off gains made by Amazon and Walmart in the category.
 

Hudson’s Bay and Lord & Taylor President Liz Rodbell is among a group of high powered female executive due to be honored as Outstanding Mothers at a New York City event on May 7 emceed by HSN CEO and 2010 Outstanding Mother honoree Mindy Grossman.

Other honorees include Meredith Vieira, host and executive producer, “The Meredith Vieira Show”; Joanna Coles, editor-in-chief, Cosmopolitan and editorial director, Hearst Magazines; and Dee Ocleppo Hilfiger, designer, creative director at Dee Ocleppo.

New York -- The National Association of Chain Drug Stores announced during its Annual Meeting, the election of new officers, four new executive committee members and five new board of directors member for the coming year.
 
Randy Edeker, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Hy-Vee will serve as the new NACDS chairman of the board of directors. Edeker succeeds John Standley, chairman and chief executive officer of Rite Aid.
 

The old expression, “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime,” was taken to heart at Whole Foods where a recent fundraising campaign will provide loans to help people improve their lot in life.

Whole Food held concerts and craft fairs and thousands of small events that raised $4.6 million with the goal of alleviating global poverty. To achieve such a lofty mission, the retailer isn’t donating money to food banks to provide hand outs, but rather using the dollars to fund a microlending campaign.