Parent of Office Depot names CEOs for spin-off companies

The ODP Corp. named the chief executives who will run ODP and Office Depot when the two companies complete their spinoff.

Gerry Smith will continue to serve as CEO of ODP and its operating company, which will be renamed ODP Business Solutions. He also will head ODP’s newly formed B2B digital platform technology business, which will be named Varis. ODP Business Solutions and Varis will be owned by ODP but operated as separate businesses. ODP will also continue to own the global sourcing operations and other sourcing, supply chain and logistics assets.

Kevin Moffitt, currently executive VP and chief retail officer of ODP, will serve as CEO of Office Depot. The company will consist of approximately 1,100 Office Depot and OfficeMax stores, along with an e-commerce website.

“Kevin’s experience with leading our retail and eCommerce organizations over the past several years positions him as the ideal candidate to become CEO of Office Depot upon the separation,” said Smith.

[Read More: Staples makes $1 billion bid to buy consumer businesses of Office Depot owner]

While ODP and Office Depot will be separate, independent companies, it is expected that they will share commercial agreements to allow them to continue to leverage scale benefits in such areas as product sourcing and supply chain.

The separation may pave the way for Office Depot to be acquired by rival Staples. In January, ODP turned down an offer by Staples to buy the company for $2.1 billion in cash, saying it was unlikely to overcome regulatory challenges. But in a letter detailing its response and rejection of the offer, ODP also said it was open to a reworking of the deal, including combining their retail operations.

Additional details of the separation are expected to be announced in the coming months, including board and additional leadership teams of both companies.