Container Store shores up leadership with retail vets
The Container Store has expanded its management team, including adding four new titles: CIO; VP of merchandising; senior director of senior director of environmental, social and governance (ESG); and senior director of diversity, equity and inclusion.
The specialty retailer of storage/organization solutions and custom closets named Dhritiman Saha as CIO. Saha joins The Container Store from GameStop where he was the chief digital officer. He has also held leadership roles at J.C. Penney, Target and Kohls. (Previously, this position title was chief technology officer.)
In other new roles, Michelle Gill was named VP of merchandising. Gill, who will report to chief merchandising officer John Gehre, will support initiatives such as the expansion of The Container Store’s private label assortment and sustainably sourced products. She previously served nearly three decades at Neiman Marcus, most recently as VP, DMM, beauty.
LaTisha Brandon will fill a new role of senior director of diversity, equity and inclusion, building on the company’s current strategy and leading its DE&I Taskforce under the leadership of executive VP of human resources John Marazio. During the past five years, Brandon has spearheaded DE&I initiatives across all areas of business at J.C. Penney and Celanese.
• Another new role for the company, senior director of ESG has been filled by Ivet Taneva, who will develop and lead a multi-prong strategy for ESG for The Container Store. She comes from Alcon, where she led the development and execution of its global environmental sustainability strategy, global regulatory compliance program, and developed sustainability standards for all levels of the organization.
• Robert Higgins joined the team in late April as the new VP of real estate, responsible for formulating and executing growth strategies as well as overseeing the company’s real estate portfolio. Previously, he was the VP of global real estate and retail development for Fossil.
"Each of these new members of our leadership team brings a unique lens of the retail world and fresh thinking to The Container Store," said CEO Satish Malhotra. "These five roles will further strengthen our leadership team and help lead the growth strategies we have set forth across all areas of our business.”