Dive Brief:
- Petco on Tuesday announced several executive leadership changes. Chief Operating Officer Justin Tichy and Amy College, the chief merchandising and supply chain officer, are both leaving the company. The COO role will be eliminated upon Tichy’s resignation on June 8. College’s role was also terminated and she will leave the company on Aug. 17, according to a regulatory filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
- James Roth has been appointed chief stores officer. He joins the company from Abercrombie & Fitch Co., where he held a similar position. Petco this week also appointed Shari White the interim chief merchant. White’s past experience includes management roles at Target and Unilever.
- Additionally, Petco has expanded its executive leadership team to include Roth, White, Tim Buckenberger, senior vice president of merchandise planning, inventory and supply chain; Steve Janowiak, vice president of digital; and Stephen Reyes, senior vice president of services.
Dive Insight:
Previous CEO Ron Coughlin stepped down in March after Petco swung to a Q4 net loss of $22.6 million from nearly $33 million in profitability a year earlier. Mike Mohan stepped in as interim CEO at that time.
The company’s performance prompted S&P Global Ratings to downgrade Petco’s credit rating to B from B+ in April. S&P cited expectations that profitability will remain pressured during the next 12 months for the pet supply and wellness retailer.
“Today's changes to our leadership team will accelerate Petco's initiatives to drive retail excellence as we execute on our operational reset,” Mohan said Tuesday. ”Across the business, we are streamlining the organization to empower faster and more effective implementation of best practices on the path to restoring our profitability.”
Wedbush analysts led by Seth Basham singled out Roth’s appointment and 20-plus years of experience at Abercrombie & Fitch — which included leading a turnaround at the apparel retailer — as a positive for Petco.
Mohan and executive chairman Glenn Murphy “are wasting little time streamlining the organization and working to drive retail excellence as they reset operations,” Basham said in a Wednesday note.
Petco has engaged a global executive search firm to identify internal and external candidates to serve as the permanent chief merchant, the company said in its announcement this week.
“We look for the company to boost store productivity and efficiency over the next year through merchandising, labor and operational changes,” Basham continued. “The company recently announced plans for a new store operating model that would educate and empower employees and give them more facetime with customers to drive sales; in our view, Mr. Roth has deep experience from Abercrombie to drive this change.”
Basham also characterized Mohan, a past chief operating officer of Best Buy, as a positive change maker. Basham said Mohan facilitated Best Buy’s partnerships with key vendors and used enhanced displays and trained staff as part of a turnaround initiative over a decade ago.
Clarification: This story has been updated to clarify the terms of College’s departure from the company.
