Macy’s shakes up digital team

Macy’s named two key leaders in a move to bolster the company’s digital initiatives.



The department store chain named Yasir Anwar as its executive VP and CTO, effective immediately. In this new role, Anwar will oversee all technology functions for Macy’s, including expanding the company’s technological capabilities and further driving mobile and digital growth.



Specifically, Anwar will align Macy’s technology efforts with the company’s strategy. He will be responsible for the teams that build the end-to-end e-commerce experience, enterprise-shared services, infrastructure, field services and functional IT support.



Anwar joined Macys.com as VP, engineering in May 2012. He was promoted to group VP, engineering in April 2014 and senior VP, digital technology in April 2016. Anwar was appointed CTO in February 2017.



As a founder of MacysLabs, Anwar introduced lean development practices and established lean delivery teams to transform the delivery model, with a focus on experimentation and customer testing. Prior to joining Macy’s, Anwar was the head of engineering at Walmartlabs, where he built next generation platforms for Walmart Global eCommerce. Previously, Anwar was the head of engineering for Samsclub.com and led architecture for Walmart.com.



The company has also named Mike Robinson as executive VP, product management and customer experience. He was previously executive VP, digital technology, customer experience and site merchandising at Macys.com.



He will manage all aspects of product management, portfolio and user experiences for digital, store and omnichannel systems. Robinson will also oversee a unified product and portfolio vision, allowing customers to shop seamlessly and easily across all Macy’s channels.



“Maximizing our technology capabilities and continuing the strong growth of our digital and mobile platforms is a high priority for Macy’s, and we are restructuring our technology teams to support these efforts,” said Macy’s president and CEO Jeff Gennette.



“Bringing the Macy’s technology teams together under Yasir’s leadership will result in faster time to market and decision making through a streamlined IT organization that will create nimble platforms for continuous business transformation,” he added. “Mike’s focus on product and customer experience will ensure that our best customer continues to be able to shop the way she lives both online and in-store.”



Anwar and Robinson will both report to R.B. Harrison, chief omnichannel and operations officer.