Sears board member new addition at Staples

Starboard Value, the investment firm driving change at Staples, pushed the retailer to merge with Office Depot and now has achieved another of its goals with the addition of a new board member.

At the behest of Starboard, Staples said it nominated former investment banker and cruise line executive Kunal Kamlani to stand for election at its annual meeting to fill a position being vacated after seven years by Justin King. Unlike Kamlani, King was a veteran retailer who at the time of his appointment in 2007 was CEO of leading U.K. food retailer Sainsbury and had also spent time at Marks & Spencer and Walmart’s Asda division. King resigned as Sainsbury CEO last year after 10 years.

Kamlani isn’t joining the Staples board for his retail expertise and outgoing board member King disagreed with the agreement reached with Starboard that made room for Kamlani on the board.Kamlani was named to the board of Sears Holdings in December 2014 and he also serves on the retailer’s audit committee. He most recently served as president, COO and CFO of Prestige Cruise Holdings and , the parent company of Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises from 2011 to 2014.

Prior to that he served as head of the global investment solutions division of Bank of America/Merrill Lynch. Prior to that, he was managing director and COO of Smith Barney. Kamlani was nominated pursuant to an agreement with Starboard Value in which the firm agreed to support all of Staples’ director nominees at the upcoming 2015 annual meeting.

We have an extremely strong board with extensive skills and experience in areas including integration, strategic planning, e-commerce and operations,” said Ron Sargent, Staples’ chairman and CEO. “We look forward to working with Kunal, and we are confident he will help us continue to build value for our stockholders through our reinvention and the acquisition of Office Depot. We will continue to work to close the Office Depot transaction and prepare for a seamless integration.”

Jeff Smith, CEO of Starboard added, “We are appreciative of the productive relationship we have had with Staples and are pleased to have worked constructively with Staples’ Board and management to add Kunal to the Board. We look forward to continued value creation at Staples, and we believe Kunal’s skills and experience will help the Board as it continues to focus on Staples’ strategic priorities.”