Best Buy promotes Owen to entertainment vp

MINNEAPOLIS Best Buy Co. today announced that Julie Owen has been promoted to senior vp and was named the leader of the company's entertainment business operating group. She reports to Shari Ballard, Best Buy's evp of entertainment, multi-channel and human capital. Owen fills the position vacated by Gary Arnold who now focuses on developing entertainment access and exclusive offers for Best Buy customers around the world.

Most recently, Owen served as vp of customer care, responsible for 15 call centers which handle more than 25 million customer calls every year. While in this role, Owen demonstrated the importance of employee engagement by significantly reducing the percentage of employee turnover and improving the customer experience through innovations such as the concierge model, an option for personal call center service. Prior to directing Best Buy's customer care programs, Owen held a variety of leadership roles in marketing, advertising and visual merchandising.