OPERATIONS / SUPPLY CHAIN

Former PetSmart CEO joins board of home décor chain At Home
Garden Ridge, Texas -- Décor superstore retailer At Home said that Former PetSmart CEO and chairman Phil Francis has been selected as an independent member of the board of directors of décor superstore retailer At Home. The retailer has been acquiring senior leadership talent with public company experience which has some industry experts suggesting a stock offering could be in the company’s future.
Wal-Mart shuffles executives, organizational structure
Bentonville, Ark. – Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is shuffling a number of key executives and also tinkering with its organizational structure. Veteran Wal-Mart operator Mike Moore, who currently serves as executive VP of the 613-unit Neighborhood Market division, will transition to a new executive VP role with oversight of Wal-Mart’s much larger 3,421-unit supercenter operation in the U.S.

Assuming Moore’s previous position is Wal-Mart West executive VP Julie Murphy.

Visa expands technology research; names research labs VP

San Francisco - Visa Inc. is expanding its technology research capabilities globally and appointing Min Wang to senior VP of Visa Research Labs. Wang joins Visa from Google Research, where she was a senior staff research scientist focused on data mining.

She also held senior staff research roles at HP Labs China and at the Unified Data Analytics Department at the IBM Watson Research Center.
REI plans new Arizona distribution center

Seattle - REI will open a third distribution center, located in Goodyear, Arizona. The specialty outdoor retailers seeks to better support its stores and customers through faster product replenishment and delivery.
L’Oreal USA reduces CO2 emissions

New York - L'Oreal USA is announcing the first measured results of its global sustainability program, Sharing Beauty With All. By 2020, the company pledges that 100% of products will have an environmental or social benefit and 100% of strategic suppliers will be evaluated on their social and environmental performance.
Fresh Market expands board

Greenboro, N.C. – The Fresh Market Inc. has elected Michael D. Casey, CEO and a director of Carter’s Inc., and Robert K. Shearer, formerly CFO of V.F. Corp, and currently a director of Church & Dwight Co. Inc., as independent directors. With these additions, The Fresh Market’s board has nine directors, eight of whom are independent directors.
Sunoco L.P. names new chairman; shuffles board

Houston - Sunoco L.P. has appointed Matthew S. Ramsey as chairman of the board. Ramsey succeeds Sam L. Susser, who has resigned from the board to pursue other new business interests.

Ramsey has served as a director of Sunoco L.P. since August 2014, serving as chair of the audit committee and serving on the compensation committee. Ramsey also serves as a director of Energy Transfer Equity L.P. and is chairman of the audit committee, as well as a member of the compensation committee.
Bartell Drug names REI veteran as CEO

Brian Unmacht (left) and George D. Bartell
Kroger to build 11 new stores, 16 gas stations, training center in Indiana

Cincinnati – The Kroger Co. plans to build 11 new stores and remodel 22 existing stores in the Indianapolis area. Kroger will spend $464.6 million in a four-year plan that actually started in 2014.

The plan includes constructing seven 125,000-sq.-ft. Kroger Marketplace stores in Fishers, Franklin and Indianapolis counties. Those stores will cost $141 million and create 1,350 permanent jobs.
Report: Arizona outlaws local plastic bag bans

Phoenix – Local communities in Arizona reportedly can no longer ban plastic bags. According to the Associated Press, the Arizona state legislature has voted to make it illegal for cities and town to forbid the use of plastic bags, as well as Styrofoam containers or other disposable products, within their limits.

The state law also restricts local communities from requiring businesses to report energy usage.