News

By Stacy Adams, VP marketing, mBlox

The search for a new CEO to lead Crocs is set to intensify now that the iconic footwear manufacturer has resolved its board structure with the addition of two representatives from private equity firm Blackstone Group.

The nation’s leading apple juice brand has launched a new line of juice drinks that offer an appealing combination of kid-friendly bold flavors and mom-satisfying reduced sugar content.

Mott’s, a division of Dr Pepper Snapple Group, said it launched Fruit Punch Rush, Wild Grape Surge and Strawberry Boom with 40% less sugar than found in fruit juice, no artificial sweeteners and 100% of daily vitamin C requirement.

Jo-Ann has promoted Riddianne Kline to EVP, marketing and merchandising, and Tom Williams to EVP, operations and human resources. James Kerr, EVP, CFO, completes the executive leadership team reporting to CEO and president Travis Smith.

Chico's FAS is gearing up to launch its brand in Mexico through an exclusive franchise with El Puerto de Liverpool. The company’s expansion in Mexico will begin with a stand-alone boutique opening at Perisur Mall, Mexico City, in spring this year.

Ross Stores has promoted Michael Hartshorn to CFO, retaining his SVP title, effective Feb. 2. Hartshorn will be responsible for the accounting, treasury, financial planning, tax, risk management and investor relations functions.  

As CFO, he will continue to report to John Call, group SVP, finance and legal, and corporate secretary.

Gymboree is looking to Oracle Commerce to support its full range of international e-commerce sites across all its brands, which include Gymboree, Janie and Jack, and Crazy 8.

Gymboree also plans to implement Oracle WebLogic Suite.

Brookshire Grocery plans to reduce shrink and improve in-store operations with Retail 20/20 reporting, a cloud-based exception reporting solution by Agilence.

"We needed a powerful reporting application to get the most out of our data and a team to help us drive it," stated John D'Anna, CIO for Brookshire Grocery. "After a six-month pilot, it was clear that Retail 20/20 was able to deliver a significant return on our investment."

Pharmacy benefit analytics company Truveris has named former Walgreens and Apple veteran Anthony Barrett as VP sales, central region.

Barrett joins Truveris with more than 33 years of achieving growth and leading strategic business development, sales and clinical teams. Experienced in healthcare and IT, Barrett worked at Healthways, Prime Therapeutics, Walgreens, Apple and Xerox.

ShopAdvisor, is a mobile service that reminds consumers of the things they want to buy later on, has named Peter O’Kelly as chief data officer. He will lead the company’s efforts to turn its collection of intent and affinity shopping data into offerings for media providers, marketers and retailers.