Dive Brief:
- Qurate Retail Group promoted CFO Bill Wafford to the expanded role of chief administrative officer and CFO, the company announced Wednesday. He steps into the new position effective immediately.
- As part of his new role, Wafford will manage the company’s transformation office, which supports the company’s turnaround and growth, and its global people division, which includes compensation, benefits, payroll, talent acquisition, and people and organizational effectiveness. He will continue to report to CEO David Rawlinson.
- Linda Aiello, who has been Qurate’s chief people officer since fall 2022, will exit the company this month. The company has begun looking for her replacement, per the announcement.
Dive Insight:
Qurate Retail Group hired Wafford as its CFO from DTC brand Everlane last year. Wafford brought prior experience from companies like Walgreens Boots Alliance, The Vitamin Shoppe and J.C. Penney.
The C-suite shake-up comes as the company “reached an inflection point” during its turnaround strategy in the second half of 2023, Rawlinson said in a statement.
“As we continue to build on this progress in 2024, it is time to reorganize parts of the business to align,” Rawlinson said. “Bringing Finance, Transformation and People together under Bill allows the teams to work more closely as we evolve the way we operate while staying vigilant in how we manage spend and maintain rigor, discipline and agility. Bill’s financial strategy leadership, experience in business transformation, and strong cross-functional relationships make him well positioned to lead in this new structure.”
In addition to expanding Wafford’s role, the company also announced in February that it had appointed Stacy Bowe as the new president of HSN. She replaced Rob Muller, who left the company after a 23-year tenure.
In its most recent earnings, Qurate reported that Q4 revenue fell 11% to $3.14 billion from $3.5 billion the prior year. Full-year revenue fell 10% to $10.9 billion. The company also posted a positive operating income for the year of $590 million, compared to a $2 billion loss year over year. Rawlinson at the time described 2023 as “a transformational year.”
