Mark Schwartz Named President & COO of Kmart; Succeeds Andy Giancamilli Who is Resigning
David Rots Promoted to EVP, Chief Administrative Officer
Kmart Corporation (NYSE: KM) today reported that its President and Chief Operating Officer Andy Giancamilli has announced his resignation and that Mark S. Schwartz has been named the company's new President and Chief Operating Officer, effective immediately.
Schwartz joined Kmart in September 2000 as Executive Vice President, Store Operations. Schwartz joined Kmart from his post as President and Chief Executive Officer of Big V Supermarkets, Inc. He is a 16-year Wal-Mart veteran where he held the positions of President & Director of Wal-Mart Supercenter Stores in Mexico and Senior Vice President for Wal-Mart Supercenters. He is largely credited with growing Wal-Mart's supercenter business from 10 stores in 1989 to 400 in 1996. Schwartz started his retailing career at age 16, becoming a store manager at age 22 for Woolco Department Stores.
Since joining Kmart he has led the company's key initiatives to achieve world-class execution and develop a customer-centric culture in Kmart's stores. By establishing operating non-negotiables -- no more than three in a checkout line, clean stores and clear aisles -- stores have improved customer service and provided a more exciting shopping experience for Kmart customers. Schwartz also led the store initiative that eliminated more than 15,000 storage trailers and reduced excess inventory by 700 million -- a first in Kmart history.
Kmart Chairman and CEO Chuck Conaway said, "During Andy Giancamilli's six years with Kmart, we improved our pharmacy operations and implemented our strategy to increase frequency with the right consumables and commodities product offerings. We are truly grateful for his accomplishments and contributions to the company and wish him well."
"Mark Schwartz has demonstrated his ability to build on and continue Kmart's efforts to improve performance and achieve world-class execution. His leadership will help drive greater execution discipline throughout the business. Already under his leadership, we have seen improvement, from 40% to 55%, in our Super Service Index -- the percentage of customers who rate their overall shopping experience as excellent," said Conaway. "His supercenter experience is invaluable and will serve the company well as we look to increase our competition in our traditional and supercenter businesses."
Additionally, the company announced the promotion of David P. Rots to Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer from Executive Vice President, Human Resources. In addition to his human resources responsibilities, Rots will oversee training, legal, communications, facilities and corporate governance functions. Rots joined Kmart in 2000 from his post at Warner-Lambert as Vice President of Human Resources for Parke- Davis.
Kmart Corporation is a near-$40 billion company that serves America with more than 2,100 Kmart and Kmart supercenter retail outlets. In addition to serving all 50 states, Kmart operations extend to the Caribbean Islands and Asia Pacific. More information about Kmart is available on the World Wide Web at http://www.bluelight.com/ under the "About Kmart" section.
SOURCE: Kmart Corporation
Contact: Mary Lorencz, Director, Corporate Media Relations of Kmart
Corporation, 248-463-1021
Website: http://www.bluelight.com/