Human Resources

Digital design and marketing consultancy Razorfish made two key hires to bolster the capabilities of its rapidly growing commerce practice led by Commerce Strategy head Jason Goldberg.

Jon Reily and Steve White were named vice presidents of commerce strategy and both will report to Goldberg. The hire are said to help the agency meet the increasing demand from clients looking for partners able to combine commerce strategy with world-class delivery to reinvent and digitize their retail channels.

Today, CEOs and corporate board members of retail chains must run simply to stand still. Executives of publicly traded retailers face intensive pressure from activist investors to quickly and decisively increase shareholder value. Activists are known to secretly accumulate a significant stake in a company and without notice blind side the CEO with risky restructuring plans, force firms into unwanted mergers to removing board members and CEOs that disagree with their speculative strategy.

Bentonville, Ark. -- Speaking at Wal-Mart Stores’ annual shareholders meeting in Bentonville, Arkansas, president and CEO Doug McMillon told the more than 14,000 assembled associates and shareholders that he is more worried about the enemy within the company than competitors.

“The truth is the real villains are lurking within the company,” said McMillon. “Our real villains are things like bureaucracy, complacency, a lack of speed, or a lack of passion.”

Dick’s Sporting Goods named veteran consumer packaged goods finance executive Teri List executive vice president and CFO to oversee the retailer’s finance and legal organizations.

Pittsburgh – Dick’s Sporting Goods Inc. has appointed Teri L. List-Stoll as executive VP/CFO, effective August 2015.

 List-Stoll joins Dick’s with 30 years of experience. Prior to joining the company, she was employed by Kraft Foods Group from September 2013 to May 2015, serving as executive VP and CFO from December 2013 to February 2015. Before her role as CFO of Kraft, she served as senior VP of finance from September to December 2013.

New York -- Just under half of retail firms expect industry expansion, and over two-thirds will consider seeking additional financing in the coming year. And 45% believe the sector will expand in the year ahead. That’s according to a survey by GE Capital of C-suite executives at middle market companies (ranging from $10 million to less than $1 billion in sales).

Performance in the middle-market retail sector was positive over the past year, the survey found, with 75% of firms reporting improved year-over-year financial performance.

The Kroger Co. has named Fred Morganthall, currently president of Harris Teeter Supermarkets, as senior vice president of retail divisions for the Kroger Co.

Rod Antolock, currently Harris Teeter's executive vice president, has been named president of Harris Teeter.

Rob Walton relinquished the position of chairman of the board of directors of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., to his son-in-law, Greg Penner, at the company annual meeting on June 5.

The move to elevate Penner to the new role didn’t come as huge shock since the stage had been set for the move at Walmart’s annual meeting last year when Walton, 70, announced Penner had been named the board’s vice chairman. Walton has served as chairman of the board since 1992 the same year that his father and company founder Sam Walton died. He will continue to serve on the board.