Cost Plus Makes Executive Changes

January 28, 2010  by in UnCategorized   

By Home Furnishings Business in Executive Changes on January 29, 2010 The chief merchandising executive for Cost Plus/World Market (CPWM) has left the retailer, and the company has made several organizational changes.

George Whitney, senior vice president of merchandising, has left the company. Moving forward, Marilyn Incerty has been named vice president of home and trend development, and Matt Gee continues in his role as vice president of consumables.

Both Incerty and Gee report to Barry Feld, president and chief executive officer of Cost Plus.

Incerty joined the retailer in March 2007 as director of merchandising. She has more than 26 years of retail experience, and prior to joining the company, Incerty held divisional level positions with Pottery Barn, Levi Strauss and Gymboree.

Gee joined Cost Plus in March 2007 as vice president of consumables. He has more than 22 years retail experience and has held senior level positions at various food and beverage retailers. Prior to joining the company, Gee was vice president of merchandising for Beverages & More.

Jeff Turner has been promoted to the position of executive vice president of operations and chief information office, and Laura Sites-Reynolds has been named senior vice president of inventory management.

Turner is responsible for information technology, store operations, logistics and the distribution centers. He joined Cost Plus in September 2007 as senior vice president, chief information officer, and has 26 years of information technology experience, as well as 18 years of retail experience. Prior to joining the company, Turner was senior vice president, chief information officer for Restoration Hardware.

Sites-Reynolds joined Cost Plus in March 2006 as vice president of inventory management. Sites-Reynolds has more than 24 years of retail experience. Prior to joining the retailer, she was vice president of inventory management and supply chain for Design Within Reach.

Both Turner and Sites-Reynolds report to Feld.

"The strategic changes to our organizational structure are designed to streamline sourcing and development processes, recognizing that we have two distinct businesses, home and consumables, and increase the speed by which we can profitably bring unique and authentic products from over 50 countries to our retail stores," Feld said.

Cost Plus has 268 stores in 30 states.