BJs names president and COO, successor to Sen?

Christopher Baldwin has been named president and COO at BJ's Wholesale Club, Inc., putting the former Hess Retail CEO in position to succeed Laura Sen as CEO of the 208 unit warehouse club chain.

Baldwin will assume his new responsibilities at the privately held retailer on Sept. 8, where he will oversee merchandising, logistics, membership, marketing club operations. He will also join the board of directors at BJ’s, a company wholly owned by affiliates of Leonard Green & Partners, CVC Capital Partners and its management team.

"I am very excited to welcome Chris to the BJ's team," said Laura Sen, BJ's CEO. "Chris' record of excellence in leading large and successful organizations in the retail and consumer sectors will help us to build upon BJ's strong heritage of offering a distinctive shopping experience and deep value proposition to BJ's millions of loyal members."

Balwin is a veteran retail and consumer packaged goods executive who most recently served as CEO of Hess Retail Corporation, an operator of over 1,300 fuel and convenience stores on the East Coast prior to its sale to Marathon Petroleum Corporation. Before joining Hess, Baldwin served in a variety of leadership roles including president of Snacks at Kraft Foods (Nabisco), president of North America at the Hershey Company, and several executive roles at Procter and Gamble.

"I am privileged and excited to have the opportunity to join BJ's terrific team," Baldwin said. "BJ's operates a unique and well positioned model within the very exciting wholesale club retail channel. I look forward to working with BJ's executives, team members, and its board of directors to help bring value to all our stakeholders."

BJ’s was taken private in 2011 by Leonard Green & Partners and CVC Capital Partners. Since then, the investment has been highly successful, according to Jonathan Seiffer, senior partner at Leonard Green & Partners.

“Our firm has a deep history of investing in outstanding retail businesses, and we believe that the addition of Chris Baldwin to the BJ's team will help to further establish BJ's as a leading player in the U.S. retail landscape,” Seiffer said.

Cameron Breitner, partner of CVC Capital Partners added, "We are delighted to welcome Chris Baldwin to the BJ's team. Over a long career in the retail and consumer sectors, Chris has proven himself to be an outstanding and innovative leader at a number of great companies, and we expect him to make similar contributions at BJ's."

BJ’s has long been a distant competitor to rivals Sam’s Club and Costco. Its main point of difference at 208 clubs in 15 eastern states is an expanded assortment and offering of smaller pack sizes. The typical BJs offered around 7,000 items whereas Sam’s and Costco generally stock fewer than 4,000 items in similar sized warehouse clubs.