Best Buy Re-aligns Its Resources To Support Three Growth Areas; President & COO Lenzmeier To Retire at the Start of Fiscal 2007.MINNEAPOLIS -- Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange :BBY BBY Best Buy (stock symbol) BBY Before Battle of Yavin (Star Wars) BBY BeBeyond (Chinese online community) ) announced a reorganization designed to accelerate its business strategy by aggregating resources in three key growth areas: --Retail sales channels; --Customer business groups (including the company's customer centricity Customer centricity refers to the orientation of a company to the needs and behaviours of its customers, rather than internal drivers (such as the quest for short term profit). initiative); and --The development of future growth platforms This article or section needs sources or references that appear in reliable, third-party publications. Alone, primary sources and sources affiliated with the subject of this article are not sufficient for an accurate encyclopedia article. . To support the growth of retail sales channels, Brian J. Dunn was promoted to president of retail - North America North America, third largest continent (1990 est. pop. 365,000,000), c.9,400,000 sq mi (24,346,000 sq km), the northern of the two continents of the Western Hemisphere. , effective immediately. Dunn, age 44, was executive vice president - retail sales for U.S. Best Buy stores since 2002. In addition to overseeing the management of the company's 659 U.S. Best Buy stores, he assumed additional management responsibility for the company's 142 stores in Canada (including 114 Future Shop and 28 Best Buy stores), its 22 Magnolia Audio Video Magnolia Audio Video is a specialty consumer electronics retailer in the United States. It currently operates 13 standalone stores throughout Washington, Oregon, and California. stores and the company's online channels. Dunn also leads several corporate groups that directly support the retail organization. "Brian has had a tremendous career at Best Buy, and his leadership abilities are the primary reason that our stores have become known for their high productivity," Anderson said. "With Brian at the helm of our retail sales channels, we expect to continue to build on that success while optimizing how these channels work together and providing our customers with superior experiences." Dunn, who now reports to Brad Anderson, CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. of Best Buy, spent his entire professional career with Best Buy. He joined the company in 1985 as a sales consultant and over a 19-year career advanced through the retail organization through successively larger and more complex roles, including store manager, district manager, regional vice president and divisional senior vice president. In 2002, Dunn was named to his most recent position, overseeing the management of the company's U.S. Best Buy stores. In addition, to accelerate the company's customer centricity initiative, John Walden John Walden (1925-) was a London-born member of the colonial administration in Hong Kong from 1951 until his retirement 1980. He graduated in 1950 from Merton College, Oxford, with an Honours Degree. , age 44, who had been executive vice president of human capital and leadership and executive co-sponsor of the company's customer centricity initiative, took on a new role as executive vice president, customer business group, effective immediately. As part of the reorganization, this newly created group aggregates all resources that manage customer segment performance, and consolidates resources that define the company for consumers. Customer business group encompasses the customer centricity segment teams, the consumer hub organization (i.e., marketing, advertising and customer call centers), the store design and experience development group, and communications. Walden continues to report to Anderson. Walden joined Best Buy in 1999 as senior vice president of the company and president of the company's wholly owned internet business, BestBuy.com. In 2002, he was promoted to executive vice president of human capital and leadership, reflecting the company's increased emphasis on people and culture as core strategic components. In that role, Walden worked to align business strategies with organizational capabilities, including human capital strategy, leadership development and human resources The fancy word for "people." The human resources department within an organization, years ago known as the "personnel department," manages the administrative aspects of the employees. . Before joining the company, Walden was chief operating officer Chief Operating Officer (COO) The officer of a firm responsible for day-to-day management, usually the president or an executive vice-president. of Peapod Inc., an Internet-based grocery retailer and consumer research company. In a related move, Shari Ballard, age 38, previously senior vice president of human resources - retail service delivery, was promoted to executive vice president of human capital and leadership, reporting to Anderson. In her new role, she will be responsible for overseeing the company's human capital strategy as well as leadership development, human resources service delivery and human resources operations. Additionally, she will assume responsibility for the Legal department. Ballard started her career at Best Buy in 1993 as an assistant store manager and was subsequently promoted to store manager in the Michigan market. In 1997, she joined the Retail Change Implementation Team which, in partnership with store teams, successfully executed a new operating model Operating Model is a term that is used in many contexts. In essence an operating model describes how an organization operates across both business and technology domains. The Operating Model describes what is important for the organization. across 270 Best Buy retail stores. Ballard then moved to Human Resources, accepting responsibility for the retail stores human resources group. In 2000, she was promoted to vice president of organizational effectiveness Organizational effectiveness is the concept of how effective an organization is in achieving the outcomes the organization intends to produce. The idea of organizational effectiveness is especially important for non-profit organizations as most people who donate money to non-profit . In 2003, she was named senior vice president - retail service delivery, To drive the company's long-term growth initiatives, Allen Lenzmeier, age 61, was named vice chairman of Best Buy. In this role, Lenzmeier, a 20-year veteran of Best Buy, assumed responsibility for developing future growth platforms for the nation's largest retailer of consumer electronics, home office products, entertainment software and appliances. In this new capacity, he continues to report to Brad Anderson, CEO. The company also announced that Lenzmeier, president and chief operating officer, plans to retire from the company at the beginning of fiscal 2007, allowing ample time for the company's succession plan to be implemented. Lenzmeier originally joined Best Buy in 1984 as vice president of finance and operations, and he quickly advanced to senior vice president. He was promoted in 1991 to executive vice president and CFO See Chief Financial Officer. , a broad role in which he oversaw long-range planning, information systems, finance, logistics, loss prevention, legal and human resources. In 2001, he was named president of Best Buy stores. Since 2002, when he also joined the board of directors, he has served the company as president and chief operating officer. In this role, he brought together the company's Best Buy, Future Shop and Magnolia stores to achieve significant top-line and bottom-line growth. "I'm very pleased Al has agreed to dedicate the rest of his tenure at the company to driving our future growth platforms, which will be critical to helping us achieve our long-term growth goals," Anderson said. A graduate of Mankato State University, Lenzmeier serves on the board of directors of the Boys & Girls Club Girls Club is a 2002 American television series created by David E. Kelley, who was also it's producer and executive producer. Only two out of a total of thirteen episodes created were broadcast on Fox Television in the United States and Global Television in Canada. of the Twin Cities and is a trustee of the Boys and Girls boys and girls mercurialisannua. Club of America. He also serves on the board and finance committee for the Catholic Community Foundation. No other responsibilities of Anderson's eight direct reports materially changed as a result of this reorganization. Concurrent with the reorganization announcement, Best Buy disclosed that Michael P. Keskey, formerly president - U.S. Retail Stores, left the company on Dec. 3, 2004. About Best Buy Co., Inc. Best Buy Co., Inc. is an innovative Fortune 100 growth company that continually strives to create superior customer experiences. Through more than 820 retail stores across the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. and in Canada, our employees connect customers with technology and entertainment products and services that make life easier and more fun. We sell consumer electronics, home-office products, entertainment software, appliances and related services. A Minneapolis-based company, our operations include: Best Buy (BestBuy.com and BestBuyCanada.ca), Future Shop (FutureShop.ca), Geek Squad The Geek Squad is a subsidiary of the Best Buy Company and is based in Richfield, Minnesota [1]. Originally founded in 1994 by Robert Stephens, it offers various computer-related services and accessories for residential and commercial clients. (GeekSquad.com) and Magnolia Audio Video (Magnoliaav.com). We support our communities through employee volunteerism and grants from The Best Buy Children's Foundation. |
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