Dive Brief:
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The ODP Corporation, which owns OfficeMax, Office Depot, CompuCom and Grand&Toy, recently appointed Terry Leeper as executive vice president and chief technology officer.
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As part of his role, Leeper will oversee the company's technical strategy and modernization to guide the company toward its growth goals. He will report to CEO Gerry Smith and serve as a member of the executive committee, according to a company statement.
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Prior to joining the ODP Corporation, Leeper held executive roles at Amazon and Microsoft.
Dive Insight:
Leeper's appointment is the latest executive change at the ODP Corporation. In June, the company named D. Anthony Scaglione as chief financial officer. With Leeper taking the helm of the company's tech strategy, the ODP Corporation is positioned to gain insight from his previous experience serving as head of product and tech at Amazon Business, the director of software development for Amazon's Retail Systems Platforms, director of platform strategy at Microsoft and director of Developer Division at Microsoft.
"Terry is a proven executive product and engineering leader who blends technological excellence in product management and software development with business acumen and international experience," Smith said in a statement. "He will play a key role in accelerating our pivot toward a broader business and technology platform."
The ODP Corporation is one of several companies to recently switch up its technical executive leadership. David's Bridal hired a new CTO earlier this month, Rent the Runway's CTO left back in May, and Kohl's named a new CTO this past fall.
As the coronavirus pandemic forces many retailers to temporarily close and shift their operations online, many of them, including Office Depot, have opted to permanently close some of their brick-and-mortar stores. A June Coresight report estimates between 20,000 and 25,000 stores will close this year.
