Dive Brief:

• Hudson’s Bay, the brick-and-mortar operation of the Canadian department store company, hired Nadira Singh as its new CFO, the company announced on Thursday. She will report to Wayne Drummond, president of Hudson’s Bay. 
• Before joining the retailer, Singh served as vice president of finance of Ontario Power Generation and held leadership positions within Ernst & Young. 
• In its announcement, the company highlighted Singh’s 15 years of experience in project planning, finance and strategy development.

Dive Insight:

Singh is stepping into the CFO role at a pivotal period for Hudson’s Bay. 

“As we evolve our stores to be destinations of discovery for our customers, I am delighted to welcome Nadira to the Hudson’s Bay team,” Drummond said in a statement. “I know she will be a tremendous leader in helping drive our strategy to deliver results.”

Singh said she found the retailer's effort to modernize the in-store experience inspiring and looks "forward to supporting Hudson's Bay stores across Canada." 

Parent company HBC, which owns Hudson's Bay and Saks Fifth Avenue, has undergone other recent leadership changes. Last June, the company promoted Scott Ross to serve as HBC's new CTO from his previous position as senior vice president of omnichannel where he oversaw the company's digital transformation. Hudson's Bay's digital business, The Bay, tapped Alexander Meyer at the start of the year to become its new chief customer officer. 

HBC has been shifting its physical and digital operations over the past year. In June, the company announced it would separate Saks Off 5th’s digital arm from its brick-and-mortar stores after receiving $200 million from Insight Partners and other investors. About two months later, the company made the same decision for Hudson’s Bay and dubbed its online business The Bay. The moves illustrate the parent company’s attempt to manage its real estate holdings as the retail industry shifts toward e-commerce.

People familiar with the separation process have said that a series of contracts allow the e-commerce and physical-store companies to consolidate many of its operations in order to provide a smooth customer-facing experience. The Bay has its own CFO, however.

Besides separating its digital and physical store operations, HBC has also been eyeing a sizable acquisition by preparing a bid for Kohl’s. In a statement to Retail Dive, the retailer did not deny the possibility of HBC vying for the company, but stated that the "Board's engagement with potential bidders is robust and ongoing." Given the maneuvers HBC has done over the past few years, some experts are concerned about what that deal would mean for Kohl’s.