Dive Brief:
- Dollar General announced several leadership updates on Tuesday, including the appointment of Walmart veteran Shweta Bhatia as its senior vice president of technology engineering.
- The company also named a new chief strategy officer, Donny Lau, and three new appointments within its store operations division.
- Dollar General has announced numerous leadership updates over the past few months, including naming its next CEO and elevating the role of its chief financial officer.
Dive Insight:
As Dollar General continues to open stores at a breakneck pace while also deepening its grocery assortment and launching new initiatives like healthcare and upmarket store formats, it’s refashioning its executive ranks in due course.
Lau’s appointment to senior vice president and chief strategy officer heads up its latest round of appointments. Lau has been with Dollar General since 2017 and most recently served as vice president of investor relations and corporate strategy. In the new role, he’ll focus on developing the company’s strategic initiatives, forging strategic partnerships and identifying long-term growth opportunities.
Bhatia comes to Dollar General from Walmart, where she most recently was corporate vice president of international technology, according to her LinkedIn profile. Prior to Walmart, she worked in technology management positions at department store retailer Kohl’s. At Dollar General, she will lead technology product engineering along with technology and data engineering domains.
Dollar General also announced a trio of promotions in its store operations division. Zak Brining, who joined the company in 2016, will take over as senior vice president of corporate store operations and oversee store operations workforce management, communication and compliance. Jim Sullivan, who has been with the retailer since 2003, is now senior vice president of store operations with responsibility for 8,000 locations in the northern half of the U.S. In addition, Dan Connow, who joined Dollar General in 2017, is now vice president of store operations and will be responsible for workforce management, labor planning and process improvement.
Last month, the discount retailer announced CEO Todd Vasos will retire on Nov. 1 and be replaced by Chief Operations Officer Jeffrey Owen. The company also added the role of President for its Chief Financial Officer, John Garratt, and in June named 11 new people to executive positions.
Dollar General’s other leadership appointments include:
- Rich Szellan has been named senior vice president of procurement and margin improvement, where he takes on an expanded role in extending the company’s procurement practices, including supplier diversity.
- Maty Kiser has joined Dollar General as vice president of end user support. Kiser, who has more than three decades of experience in technology roles, will lead the company’s end user support division and provide both internal and external customer support.
- Matt Sikes has joined Dollar General as vice president and chief compliance officer. He previously worked at Nissan and will work on international compliance and safeguarding Dollar General’s corporate brands.
- Kevin Walker, who joined Dollar General in 2010 and most recently served as senior of investor relations, has been promoted to vice president of investor relations, where he’ll continue to manage relationships with the investment community and help communicate company earnings and strategy.
