UNION, N.J., April 30, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Bed Bath
& Beyond Inc. (Nasdaq: BBBY) today announced four new strategic
appointments to the Company's leadership team, each of whom will
report directly to President & CEO Mark
Tritton.
This includes the appointment of Gustavo Arnal as Executive Vice President, Chief
Financial Officer (CFO) & Treasurer, effective
May 4, 2020. Arnal joins the
Company following his previous role as Group CFO of Avon, prior to
which he held senior positions at Walgreens Boots Alliance and
Procter & Gamble. Bed Bath & Beyond's current CFO &
Treasurer Robyn D'Elia is departing the Company.
In addition to Arnal, the following appointments represent a
diverse group of experienced senior executives with strong track
records of success in the retail and consumer products
sectors:
- Rafeh Masood joins the
Company as Executive Vice President, Chief Digital Officer,
effective May 11, 2020. Masood
was most recently Senior Vice President, Chief Digital Officer at
BJ's Wholesale Club, following earlier strategic positions at
Dick's Sporting Goods, and Sears Holdings.
- Gregg Melnick will assume the
role of Executive Vice President, Chief Stores Officer,
effective May 11, 2020, from his
current role as the Company's interim Chief Digital Officer.
Melnick joined Bed Bath & Beyond in 2018 as Chief
Operations Officer, Digital. Previously, Melnick was
President, Party City Holdings.
- Arlene Hong joins the Company
as Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer and Corporate
Secretary, effective May 18,
2020. Hong was formerly Chief Legal Officer, Senior
Vice President & Corporate Secretary, FULLBEAUTY Brands, prior
to which she held a number of senior legal positions at J.Crew and
Amazon.
Commenting on these strategic appointments, President & CEO
Mark Tritton said, "We remain
committed to rebuilding our business and strengthening our ability
to serve our loyal customers, while we respond to the challenges
presented by COVID-19. In addition to the appointments of
Joe Hartsig as Chief Merchandising
Officer, and John Hartmann as Chief
Operating Officer, we are continuing to bring in experienced,
passionate leaders of change into our business, with strong
expertise in business transformation and omnichannel retail.
This is a world-class team that will accelerate and drive our
transformation.
"As our CFO, Gustavo's industry knowledge and experience leading
financial change in some of the world's largest and best-known
retail and consumer products businesses will help drive the next
phase of our growth strategy and establish a more efficient
foundation to create shareholder value."
Arnal will have oversight of finance and will help fortify a
strong and sustainable business model. He will have broad
responsibilities including M&A, Controls, Tax, Accounting,
Treasury, Audit and Investor Relations.
Incoming CFO & Treasurer Gustavo
Arnal said, "Bed Bath & Beyond has a long-standing
commitment to helping customers build their sense of Home. To
do so, we must also build on the strong foundations of this
business with a new, robust and sustainable business model. I
look forward to working with this great leadership team as the
Company executes on its strategic growth plans and playing my part
as a catalyst for cultural and financial change in the
business."
Tritton concluded, "I would like to applaud the dedication of
the interim leadership team in overseeing the Company's efforts to
support our customers, employees and communities, especially during
these challenging times, and to Robyn D'Elia for her decades-long
commitment to Bed Bath & Beyond and recent service as our CFO
& Treasurer."
Additional information about the CFO transition is included in a
Current Report on Form 8-K filed by the Company with the Securities
and Exchange Commission today.
About the New Team
- Mr. Arnal joins the Company from Avon, a leading
direct-selling beauty company where he helped lead a successful
business turnaround effort. Prior to Avon, Mr. Arnal was CFO,
International Divisions and Global Functions at Walgreens Boots
Alliance. He is a global leader, with experience leading
teams across the US, EMEA, APAC and LATAM, and has previously
served in senior positions at Procter & Gamble, including CFO
of India, Middle East and Africa, CFO Global Fabric and Home Care, and
CFO Global Personal Beauty.
- Mr. Masood was previously Chief Digital Officer of
BJ's Wholesale Club, where he was responsible for driving
end-to-end digital strategy and vision for the company's e-commerce
and omni-channel efforts. Prior to BJ's, Mr. Masood was Vice
President, Customer Innovation Technology at Dick's Sporting Goods,
and Vice President, Integrated Retail Solutions and Technology at
Sears Holdings. RIS magazine named Masood as one of the "Top
10 Movers and Shakers" in retail in 2017 and a "Pacesetter" in
retail technology in 2012.
- Mr. Melnick joined Bed Bath & Beyond in 2018 as
Chief Operations Officer, Digital, where he has overseen the
significant growth of the Company's digital business. He has
been serving as the Company's interim Chief Digital Officer since
December 2019. Prior to that,
Gregg served as President of Party City Holdings, the world's
largest vertically integrated designer, manufacturer, distributor
and retailer of party goods with $2.4
billion in annual revenue. Previously, Gregg served as
the President of Party City Retail Group, managing retail
operations for over 900 retail locations in the United States and Canada plus e-commerce operations in
North America and the United Kingdom. He has also held senior
positions at Dow Jones Inc.
- Ms. Hong joins the Company from FULLBEAUTY Brands,
where she was Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary, managing
legal affairs for the $1 billion
multi-channel retailer. Prior to FULLBEAUTY, she led Amazon's
legal team responsible for the North America Softlines business and
held the position of General Counsel at Amazon subsidiary, Quidsi.
She also previously held the General Counsel role for
e-commerce retailer Ideeli, Inc., and served as General Counsel of
multi-channel retailer J. Crew for approximately 10 years.
About Bed Bath & Beyond Inc.
Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. and subsidiaries (the "Company") is
an omnichannel retailer that makes it easy for our customers to
feel at home. The Company sells a wide assortment of domestic
merchandise and home furnishings. The Company also provides a
variety of textile products, amenities and other goods to
institutional customers in the hospitality, cruise line, healthcare
and other industries. Additionally, the Company is a partner
in a joint venture which operates retail stores in Mexico under the name Bed Bath &
Beyond.
Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements,
including, but not limited to, the Company's progress and
anticipated progress towards its long-term objectives. Many
of these forward-looking statements can be identified by use of
words such as may, will, expect, anticipate, approximate, estimate,
assume, continue, model, project, plan, goal, and similar words and
phrases, although the absence of those words does not necessarily
mean that statements are not forward-looking. The Company's
actual results and future financial condition may differ materially
from those expressed in any such forward-looking statements as a
result of many factors. Such factors include, without
limitation: general economic conditions including the housing
market, a challenging overall macroeconomic environment and related
changes in the retailing environment; risks associated with the
novel coronavirus (COVID-19) and the governmental responses to it,
including its impacts across the Company's businesses on demand and
operations, as well as on the operations of the Company's suppliers
and other business partners, and the effectiveness of the Company's
actions taken in response to these risks; consumer preferences,
spending habits and adoption of new technologies; demographics and
other macroeconomic factors that may impact the level of spending
for the types of merchandise sold by the Company; civil
disturbances and terrorist acts; unusual weather patterns and
natural disasters; competition from existing and potential
competitors across all channels; pricing pressures; liquidity; the
ability to achieve anticipated cost savings, and to not exceed
anticipated costs, associated with organizational changes and
investments; the ability to attract and retain qualified employees
in all areas of the organization; the cost of labor, merchandise
and other costs and expenses; potential supply chain disruption due
to trade restrictions, and other factors such as natural disasters,
such as pandemics, including the COVID-19 pandemic, political
instability, labor disturbances, product recalls, financial or
operational instability of suppliers or carriers, and other items;
the ability to find suitable locations at acceptable occupancy
costs and other terms to support the Company's plans for new
stores; the ability to establish and profitably maintain the
appropriate mix of digital and physical presence in the markets it
serves; the ability to assess and implement technologies in support
of the Company's development of its omnichannel capabilities; the
ability to effectively and timely adjust the Company's plans in the
face of the rapidly changing retail and economic environment,
including in response to the COVID-19 pandemic; uncertainty in
financial markets; volatility in the price of the Company's common
stock and its effect, and the effect of other factors, including
the COVID-19 pandemic, on the Company's capital allocation
strategy; risks associated with the ability to achieve a successful
outcome for its business concepts and to otherwise achieve its
business strategies; the impact of intangible asset and other
impairments; disruptions to the Company's information technology
systems including but not limited to security breaches of systems
protecting consumer and employee information or other types of
cybercrimes or cybersecurity attacks; reputational risk arising
from challenges to the Company's or a third party product or
service supplier's compliance with various laws, regulations or
standards, including those related to labor, health, safety,
privacy or the environment; reputational risk arising from
third-party merchandise or service vendor performance in direct
home delivery or assembly of product for customers; changes to
statutory, regulatory and legal requirements, including without
limitation proposed changes affecting international trade; changes
to, or new, tax laws or interpretation of existing tax laws; new,
or developments in existing, litigation, claims or assessments;
changes to, or new, accounting standards; and foreign currency
exchange rate fluctuations. The Company does not undertake
any obligation to update its forward-looking statements.
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SOURCE Bed Bath & Beyond Inc.