Sears Holdings Corporation’s board of directors appointed W. Bruce Johnson, executive vice president, supply chain and operations, to the additional role of interim CEOand president.
Johnson will replace Aylwin B. Lewis, currently president and CEO, who will leave the company as of 2 February 2008, at the end of the company’s fiscal year. Lewis will also step down from the Sears Holdings board of directors at that time. Sears will immediately commence a formal search to identify a permanent CEO.
“We’ve accomplished a great deal under Aylwin’s leadership and we are very grateful for his commitment to Sears during a critical time in the company’s history. Aylwin played a key role in the integration of Kmart and Sears and in implementing important initiatives to enhance the profitability of the combined business. His hard work, dedication and enthusiasm have been a great example for our associates and we wish him great success in the future,” says Edward S. Lampert, chairman, Sears Holdings.
“Thanks to the many talented associates who serve our millions of Sears Holdings customers, we have made great progress since the Sears-Kmart merger was completed and I am proud of our accomplishments so far. There are many steps yet to take, and I’m confident that with the strong leadership and culture of learning the company will be successful,” says Lewis.
“We are entering a new phase in Sears’ evolution as a multi-channel retailer, as reflected by the new operational structure we recently announced, and the board has determined that now is the right time to put in place new leadership to take the company forward. As we realign Sears into five different types of focused business units, we will be redefining how our leaders operate by giving them greater autonomy and accountability for their businesses. We intend to put in place an operating model that allows managers to act with the flexibility and speed required in today’s dynamic and highly competitive marketplace.
“We are fortunate that we have such a strong interim CEO in Bruce Johnson. Bruce is an experienced retail executive, who among other accomplishments has effectively integrated and improved our supply chain and increased our direct sourcing of product. In his new role, Bruce will oversee the separate business units and will work to move our company forward quickly in achieving the benefits of this more efficient organisational structure,” adds Lampert.
Lampert will lead the board’s search for a permanent CEO and will continue to focus on identifying and attracting talented executives to the company. Following the appointment of Johnson, Lampert will no longer have any direct reports. Johnson will continue to be a member of the office of the chairman.
Johnson joined Kmart in 2003 as senior vice president and at the time of the merger was appointed executive vice president. He was named to the office of the chairman in 2005 and took on store operations in 2006.
“I am excited to be taking on this role and I am focused on continuing to transform Sears into a stronger, more efficient company. While Sears and our industry are facing many challenges, I believe that we are taking all the right steps to build a great retailer. We remain focused on ensuring that our expense base is appropriate for the size of our business and we continue to test new ideas, learn from the results, and aggressively roll out new initiatives that we believe will succeed and make a difference,” says Johnson.
Johnson joined Kmart from Carrefour SA, where he was director, organisation and systems and a member of the management board. In this role, he had global responsibilities for supply chain, information technology, store organisation and internet based business-to-business activities.
Prior to this, Johnson spent 16 years at Colgate-Palmolive Company in various roles and worked as a management consultant at Booz Allen & Hamilton and Arthur Andersen & Company. Johnson received his BA, MBA and JD from Duke University.