C-suite tech moves at Nordstrom

Nordstrom is realigning and streamlining its top technology positions.



The company said that Dan Little, Nordstrom’s chief information officer, plans to retire next fall. Little joined Nordstrom in 2002, as VP, supply chain strategy. He was named to his current position in 2014.



The news about Little’s retirement comes on the heels of the departure of Kumar Srinivasan, who left his position as Nordstrom’s chief technology officer in early January. Srinivasan, a former Amazon veteran, left Nordstrom after less than a year on the job to return home to India.



In the wake of the two departures, Nordstrom said it is launching a search for a new chief technology officer who will have accountability for all aspects of technology at the company. The position will also absorb responsibilities that previously were part of the retailer’s traditional CIO role.



In a letter by Blake Nordstrom to company employees, the company president said that Little addressed a number of goals since becoming CIO, including improving collaboration between business leaders and technology leaders, updating legacy and architecture platforms, identifying specific skill sets within technology to support the business and creating a more agile organization with few layers, better able to serve and respond quickly.



“With Kumar Srinivasan’s recent decision to move back to India and in determining how we would address the leadership of technology going forward, Dan felt it was the right time to share his intention to retire later this year,” Nordstrom wrote. This enables us to conduct a full search for our new CTO who will bring us the deep technical and strategic experience we’re after to lead technology at Nordstrom. Dan has been a trusted partner and has contributed in many ways to the company. I want to personally thank him for all his efforts.”



Nordstrom currently has a variety of tech leadership roles open. The company said that as it works toward selecting the best candidates for the roles, it has created an interim leadership structure in place to support various functions:



• Magali Muratore will take on interim leadership of the merchandising technology organization in addition to supporting the data & services team.



• Travis McElfresh will take on interim leadership of the digital technology organization in addition to supporting the engineering team.



• Steve Brewer will take on interim leadership of the stores & payments team.