Published: July 13, 2011
Office Depot Names Kevin Peters President, North America
BOCA RATON, Fla. - (BUSINESS WIRE) - Office Depot (NYSE: ODP), celebrating 25 years as a leading global
provider of office
supplies and services, today announced that Kevin Peters has been
named President, North America, a new position combining the Company's
previous North American Retail (NAR) and North American Business
Solutions (BSD) divisions. Peters, who previously served as President,
North American Retail, will continue to report to Neil Austrian,
Chairman and CEO.
In this new role, Peters will be responsible for all customer-facing
sales channels (retail, contract, direct and E-commerce) and P&L in
North America.
"For the first time, we are consolidating all of our North American
operations under one leader, allowing us to break down silos, increase
our productivity and improve the execution of our key initiatives,"
Austrian said. "We are confident that this approach will help us to
better serve our business customers and consumers."
Office Depot also announced several other changes. Bob Moore was named
Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, and Farla Efros
was named Interim Head of Merchandising. Both will report to Austrian.
Michael Allison was promoted to Executive Vice President, Human
Resources, following the retirement of Daisy Vanderlinde. Allison will
report to Austrian. Monica Luechtefeld, Executive Vice President,
E-Commerce and Direct Marketing, is retiring and her duties will be
assumed by Barry Litwin, Vice President, E-Commerce and Christine
Buscarino, Vice President, Direct and Customer Marketing. Both will
report to Peters. Luechtefeld will remain with the organization as a
consultant. Steve Schmidt, previously, President, BSD, was named
Executive Vice President, Corporate Strategy and New Business
Development, focusing on the implementation of the Company's strategic
plans and securing additional sources of revenue through new business
opportunities. Schmidt continues to report to Austrian.
"Despite a challenging economy and limited growth in our industry, we
are making the changes necessary to drive profitable sales in all of our
channels, better leverage our infrastructure and assets, and build our
brand," Austrian noted. "We now have the right priorities, the right
people and the right structure in place to successfully execute our
plans, accelerate our growth, and make Office Depot an even stronger
competitor in the marketplace."
About Kevin Peters
Kevin Peters joined Office Depot as Executive Vice President, Supply
Chain in October 2007 and was appointed Executive Vice President, Supply
Chain and Information Technology in March 2009.
Peters was named President, North American Retail, in April 2010. In
that role, he was responsible for Stores, Merchandising, Real Estate &
Construction, and Supply Chain.
Prior to joining Office Depot, Peters spent five years in management
roles at W.W. Grainger, including Senior Vice President, Supply Chain
and Merchandising, with responsibility for Store Operations. His
experience also includes 11 years at The Home Depot, serving as Vice
President and General Manager, Home Depot Commercial Direct, and Vice
President, Supply Chain and Merchandising.
Peters earned an MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at
Northwestern University. He also holds a BS in Business Administration
from the University of LaVerne.
About Bob Moore
Robert (Bob) Moore joined Office Depot as interim head of Marketing in
April 2011.
Moore began his career at Procter & Gamble as Brand Manager for Folgers.
He also served as President of the U.S. Healthcare Division of Bausch &
Lomb, and the Global Vice President of Marketing & Product Design for
the Ray-Ban Group.
Moore's experience in office supplies includes almost two years as the
Executive Vice President of Marketing for Staples. Following Staples,
Moore returned to Bausch & Lomb to lead Marketing for the Americas and
then served as President/General Manager of U.S. Vision Care.
Moore is a graduate of Pennsylvania State University and earned an MBA
from Harvard Business School.
About Farla Efros
Farla Efros currently serves as the Senior Vice President for consulting
and deals with a leading advisory firm. Previously, Efros spent 10 years
at The Partnering Group, Inc., where she was a Partner responsible for
the development of best practices category, customer and trade promotion
management working with clients such as Universal Studios, Campbell's
Soup Company and Wal-Mart. Prior to that, Efros spent nine years in the
consumer packaged goods industry working with such companies as Unilever
Canada.
Efros has broad experience in merchandising and category management,
having worked with many of the world's leading consumer packaged goods
companies and retailers. She has developed and implemented category
business strategies and tactical plans across a variety of retail
sectors.
About Michael Allison
Michael Allison joined Office Depot in 2007 as Vice President, Human
Resources, after serving as Executive Vice President of Human Resources
for Victoria's Secret Direct. Prior to Victoria's Secret, he was Senior
Vice President of Human Resources for Bank One and Senior Vice President
and Director of Human Resources for National City Bank, both in Dayton,
Ohio.
Allison began his career as a practicing attorney specializing in Labor
and Employment Law. He graduated from John Carroll University and
received his law degree from The Ohio State University College of Law.
About Office Depot
Celebrating 25 years as a leading global provider of office supplies and
services, Office Depot is Taking Care of Business for millions of
customers around the globe. For the local corner store as well as
Fortune 500 companies, Office Depot provides supplies and services to
its customers through 1,641 worldwide retail stores, a dedicated sales
force, top-rated catalogs and global e-commerce operations. Office Depot
has annual sales of approximately $11.6 billion, and employs about
40,000 associates around the world. The Company provides more office
supplies and services to more customers in more countries than any other
company, and currently sells to customers directly or through affiliates
in 55 countries.
Office Depot's common stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange
under the symbol ODP. Additional press information can be found at: http://mediarelations.officedepot.com
and http://socialpress.officedepot.com/.
Office Depot
Brian Levine, 561-438-2895
Public Relations
Brian.Levine@officedepot.com
or
Brian
Turcotte, 561-438-3657
Investor Relations
Brian.Turcotte@officedepot.com
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