Sears Holdings names new chief administrative officer

Sears Holdings has named an expert in digital transformation to fill the newly created role of chief administrative officer.

The company has named James P. Andrew to fill the new position, which will be responsible for the company's corporate support functions, including financial planning and analysis, business finance, procurement, legal, and human resources.

"Jim is a proven executive with deep expertise leading business performance improvement, corporate strategy and delivering on key objectives," said Edward S. Lampert, Sears Holdings' chairman and CEO. "His range and depth of experiences managing corporate transformations and capability development makes him a strong fit for Sears Holdings as we pursue our member-focused transformation."

Andrew comes to Sears Holdings from Royal Philips N.V., where as an executive vice president and the chief strategy and innovation officer he played a central role in the multi-year transformation of Philips' performance, productivity and capability development. He was responsible for the company's business and market growth strategies and annual planning. Andrew also led the company's digital transformation and a major repositioning of Philips' portfolio, among many other accomplishments.

Prior to Philips, Andrew spent 25 years with the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), where he most recently served as a senior partner and managing director. At BCG he consulted with Fortune 250 companies across a wide range of industries on business performance improvement, corporate strategy, portfolio composition and shareholder value creation and growth. Andrew also established BCG's Innovation Practice, and served as its global leader for many years, providing organizations with support on product development, speed, innovation strategy, portfolio management and resource allocation.