AutoZone, Inc.

Albert Saltiel has joined AutoZone, the nation’s largest automotive retailer, as SVP of marketing and customer satisfaction.

Saltiel will report directly to AutoZone chairman, president and CEO Bill Rhodes.

"Al has spent many years working in both business to business and business to consumer environments," said Rhodes. "His experiences at Navistar, Sony and Ford are well suited for this position and we are excited to welcome Al to AutoZone."

A 1.8% decline in second quarter same store sales at AutoZone was attributed to a two week tax return processing delay by the Internal Revenue Service.

The delay kept tax refunds out of the hand of AutoZone customers inclined to perform maintenance on their vehicles during the retailer’s second quarter ended February 9. Last week, Walmart also cited the tax processing delay as a source of sale weakness when it reported a 1% comp increase that was at the low end of its forecast range for a 1% to 3% increase.

AutoZone has elected Linda A. Goodspeed to its board of directors. Goodspeed is SVPand chief information officer (CIO) of The ServiceMaster Company, a position she has held since 2011.

"Linda's extensive background in information technology and the automotive industry will complement and enhance the collective skills of our Board," said Bill Rhodes, chairman, president and CEO. "We are fortunate to have her as a new board member."

Prior to joining The ServiceMaster Company, Goodspeed was VP information systems for Nissan North America.

Palo Alto, Calif. -- Retail and distribution optimization company Aldata said Tuesday it has merged with customer engagement specialist EYC.

Both companies are part of the Symphony Technology Group, and the merger will create a new company, Symphony EYC.

The merger is intended to combine EYC’s customer engagement analytics with Aldata’s retail and distribution optimization execution capabilities, linking customer insights and engagement strategies into retail assortment, merchandising and supply chain execution.

Executives at Coach, Sherwin-Williams, Ross and TJX Companies were among the top wealth creators identified by Chief Executive magazine’s 5th annual Wealth Creation Index.

Lew Frankfort, CEO at Coach topped the list with Sherwin-Williams CEO Christopher Connor and AutoZone CEO William Rhodes, ranked 14th and 16th, respectively. Other top wealth creators included 27th ranked Ross Stores CEO Michael Balmuth and TJX CEO Carol Meyerowitz. Bed Bath & Beyond CEO Steven Temares was ranked 59th and Amazon.com CEO Jess Bezos was 75th.

Add Sherwin-Williams to the list of retailers celebrating store expansion milestones this year.

Dollar General opened its 10,000th location earlier in the year, followed by the 5,000th AutoZone store and more recently Walgreens opened its 8,000th store. Now, Sherwin-Williams has opened its 3,500 stores in Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif. The 4,000-sq.-ft. store is the 70th retail location the company has opened this year and its 147th location in California.

New York -- AutoZone said it acquired online automotive retailer AutoAnything.com in conjunction with the release of first quarter earnings Tuesday morning.

Profit at the nation’s largest retailer of automotive products increased 6.4% to $203.5 million during the quarter ended Nov. 17, and sales rose 3.5% to $2 billion. Same-store sales edged up 0.2%.

Austin, Texas — Golfsmith International has named Sue E. Gove president and CEO.

Gove, formerly president and COO of the combined Golfsmith and Golf Town business, has also served as the chief integration officer leading the successful Golfsmith-Golf Town combination, which was finalized this past July. Marty Hanaka, the previous CEO, will serve in an advisory role through the end of this year.