Retail appointments of the week

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Warehouse where she helped boost sales and profitability over three years while supporting its acquisition by Petspiration Group.

“Adore Beauty is at an important juncture in its growth trajectory with two owned brands now successfully launched, and the structural shift to e-commerce well underway,” said Morton.

“In addition to the business’ clear growth strategy, I see additional opportunities for Adore Beauty to capitalise on its market-leading position to increase basket size, order frequency, and profitability.”

Founders Kate Morris and James Height will take over as co-CEOs for the interim period after O’Shannessy leaves the business until Morton commences her role.

O’Shannessy is set to take up the role of CEO and MD of the Australian-listed company IDP Education.

Vicinity Centres appoints Peter Huddle as acting CEO

By Rakshnna Pattabiraman

Peter Huddle has been named Vicinity Centre’s new acting CEO, bringing forward the former chief’s retirement timeframe.

Earlier this month, Grant Kelley retired as the CEO and MD of Vicinity Centres after five years in the role. A global search for his replacement is currently underway by executive search firm Egon Zehnder.

Huddle joined Vicinity in 2019 and is responsible for the company’s property management, leasing, operations, development, and marketing functions while delivering an integrated and customer-focused team.

Before joining Vicinity, he held several leadership roles under Westfield in Australia, Brazil and the US and is responsible for some of the world’s renowned retail and mixed development projects.

Following the acquisition of Westfield by French commercial real-estate company Unibail Rodamco in 2018, Huddle was appointed COO of the extensive operations and development business in the United States.

Vicinity’s chairman, Trevor Gerber, said the board is confident Huddle will bring value to security holders as he has the industry knowledge, skills and experience required to lead the business.

Kelley had previously indicated a desire to retire prior to June next year.

Nike Loses Third Diversity Chief in Two Years

By Anil Prabha

According to BOF, Jarvis Sam, Nike’s chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer, has left the company after just five months in the newly created post. 

It seems that Sam is the third diversity head to exit the brand in three years. In June, he replaced Felicia Mayo, who served as Nike’s chief talent, diversity and culture officer for just two years.

It looks like Treasure Heinle, vice president of HR Global Consumer & Marketplace, and Bernard Bedon, vice president and lead HR business partner, will manage the company’s DE&I portfolio until a successor is named.

“We are grateful for the work Jarvis led together with his team,” Monique Matheson, the company’s chief human resources officer, said in a statement. “That work has been instrumental to our progress. And while we are proud of what we’ve accomplished so far, we also recognize there is more to be done.”

At the time of Sam’s appointment, Nike had plans integrate the role of its DE&I leader into “the creation and execution of our people strategy,” Matheson wrote in an email first obtained by The Financial Times.

The publication stated that Sam joined Nike as director of diversity, sourcing programs in 2018 and was promoted several times before becoming vice president of diversity, equity and inclusion in July 2020.

It has been reported that his predecessor Mayo joined the brand in 2019 after serving as a VP and head of diversity at Tesla. She replaced Kellie Leonard, Nike’s first head of diversity, who similarly held the role for two years. 

Apparently, Nike had tasked Leonard with shaping its diversity and inclusion strategy after a New York Times article described a boys club culture at the sportswear company, including accusations that women employees were harassed and passed over for career opportunities.

PepsiCo ANZ appoints Kathy Usic as Head of Nutrition

By Anil Prabha

PepsiCo Australia have announced the appointment of Kathy Usic as Research & Development Life Sciences Assoc. Manager at PepsiCo Australia and New Zealand. 

The appointment follows the launch of PepsiCo’s healthy snack ambition which will see 30 percent of the PepsiCo snack range achieve a Health Star Rating of 3.5 or above by 2030.

Kathy will play a key role in advising the business on how it can continue to lead the way in bringing more options to consumers by bringing healthier options to market and reformulating market-leading brands such as Doritos, Red Rock Deli and Smith’s.

“Kathy is a deeply accomplished health and nutrition professional and business leader. Who demonstrates a genuine passion for helping people make better choices – for their health and for the planet,” said PepsiCo ANZ CEO Kyle Faulconer.

“Her strategic experience leading large change management programs focused on improving health, wellness and nutrition within large scale organisations makes Kathy the perfect fit as we further our commitment to providing more choice to consumers. We are excited to welcome Kathy to the PepsiCo team.”