Management

Office Depot announced that it's appointed Kevin Peters as president, North America, a new position that combines the company’s previous North American retail and North American business solutions divisions.

Pet specialty retailer Pet Supplies “Plus” has promoted Dave Bolen to president and CEO, effective immediately. Bolen joined the company on May 2 as president, arriving from Petco where he was executive vice president and chief merchandising officer.

Levi's announced it's appointed Paul Zadoff as its new senior vice president of wholesale commercial operations for the Americas. Zadoff will be responsible for developing and implementing effective strategies to drive long-term sustainable revenue growth, as well as ensuring the integration of a consistent consumer experience across the brand's wholesale commercial operation channels in the Americas.

Macy’s announced that Steven Derwoed has been appointed vice president of merchandising for the Macy’s store planning and design group.

A new study dove into which of the big online retailers keep their customers on hold the longest. It found that Crate and Barrel takes the longest for correspondence, taking an average of 88 hours to get back to a customer email. Meanwhile BarnesandNoble.com ranked an average hold time of 8 minutes and 3 seconds.

Canadian yoga-wear maker lululemon athletica has hired former Crocs executive Chris Ladd as senior vice president of its recently revamped e-commerce division. The retailer said Ladd will head online business strategy, which includes global expansion plans for the website's services.

Higher salaries, job mobility and a strong emphasis on "quality of life" benefits are redefining the job market in retail and fashion, according to 24 Seven's Fifth Annual Salary Survey. The survey, conducted in collaboration with the American Apparel & Footwear Association, queried more than 2,000 professionals across the U.S. in all sectors including design, sales and marketing, merchandising, product development, operations, e-commerce and store level.

The retail sector saw fewer announced job cuts in June than in May, signaling industry improvement, according to a new report from Challenger, Gray & Christmas. The retail sector announced 1,415 layoffs in June, compared to 2,944 in May. Moreover, the number of job cuts announced by retail employers for the first six months of the year dropped 12 percent to 23,027 from a year earlier.

Two American Apparel Inc. board members resigned over the weekend. The move was expected after the Los Angeles clothing maker reported last week that it had appointed two new board members, one of them effective immediately, the other effective "upon future board vacancy."

Wal-Mart Stores announced that its U.K.-based Asda unit has promoted Judity McKenna to the position of chief operating officer. McKenna is currently Asda’s finance director.