Dollar General’s new hires include a Walmart VP

Dollar General continues to update its leadership team.

The discounter announced three new hires as well as promotions and expanded roles across the company.  The announcement follows an earlier round of promotions in June, as well as the news that Todd Vasos will step down as CEO,  effective November 1, 2022, and be succeeded by Jeffery Owen, who has served as Dollar General’s COO since 2019.

NEW HIRES

•Shweta Bhatia has joined Dollar General as senior VP  of technology engineering, responsible for leading the company’s technology product engineering plus technology and data engineering domains.  She joins the company from Walmart, where she most recently served as corporate VP, international technology. Prior to Walmart, Bhatia spent nearly 11 years at Kohl’s in roles of increasing responsibility.

•Matt Sikes has joined Dollar General as VP and chief compliance officer. In this role, he will collaborate with multiple teams to ensure the company continues to incorporate compliance into its operations.  He joins Dollar General from Nissan Motor Corp., where he most recently served as chief compliance officer, Nissan North America.

•Maty Kiser has joined Dollar General as VP of end user support. She will lead the DG end user support services team providing customer service support, both internally and externally.

PROMOTIONS

•Zak Brining has been promoted to senior VP of corporate store operations. In this role, Brining will continue overseeing store operations workforce management, communication and compliance, and store process improvement while adding responsibilities in store facilities management. He joined Dollar General in 2016.

•Donny Lau has been promoted to senior VP and chief strategy officer. Lau joined Dollar General in 2017 and most recently served as VP, investor relations and corporate strategy. He will continue focusing on developing and evolving DG’s strategic vision and initiatives, implementing strategic partnerships and identifying long-term growth catalysts.

•Jim Sullivan has been promoted to senior VP of store operations with responsibility for more than 8,000 locations across the northern half of the U.S. Sullivan, who joined the company in 2003, will continue to provide training support for field leaders, elevating operations and merchandising acumen across the enterprise.

•Rich Szellan has been promoted to senior VP of procurement and margin improvement. Szellan, who joined Dollar General in 2009,  was last promoted in 2017 to VP of marketing and private brands. In his new role, Szellan will expand his role in driving profitability and procurement, including supplier diversity.

•Dan Connow has been promoted to VP of store operations. He joined the company in 2017, and in his new role he will be responsible for workforce management and labor planning in addition to his current responsibilities over process improvement.

•Kevin Walker has been promoted to VP of investor relations. He joined Dollar General in 2010 as a senior staff account and earned roles of increasing responsibility, most recently as senior director of investor relations in 2019. In his role, Walker will manage the company’s relationships with the investment community, helping communicate earnings, growth benchmarks, and long-term strategy.

Dollar General operated 18,566 stores in 47 states as of July 29, 2022.  For its most recent second quarter, the retailer reported that its sales increased 9% to $9.4 billion.