Management

American Eagle Outfitters is looking for a new chief executive. James O'Donnell, 70, has been CEO since 2003 and is said to be retiring. Chairman Jay Schottenstein, a longtime retailer who also chairs the board of discount footwear chain DSW, is heading the board's search. Schottenstein was CEO of the company from 1992 to 2002.

Guess? has announced the appointment of Nancy Shachtman as its president of North America, reporting to Paul Marciano, the company's chief executive officer and vice chairman. Shachtman will oversee the company's North American retail operations for Guess and Guess by Marciano as well as Guess Wholesale, including Mexico.

Automation — long a force in agriculture and manufacturing — is accelerating in the retail sector, a trend that could hamper efforts to bring down the nation's stubbornly high jobless rate.

Levi's announced that it's appointed Rebecca Van Dyck as its global chief marketing officer. Van Dyck joins the company from Apple, where she led the worldwide marketing and communications strategies for some of the world’s most well-known and admired product launches, including introducing the iPhone, iPad and iPod and iTunes.

Tiffany & Co. has named Frederic Cumenal as executive vice president, effective March 10. Cumenal will be responsible for the company’s businesses in Asia, Japan, Europe and emerging markets. He will report to chairman and CEO Michael J. Kowalski. He joins Tiffany from the LVMH Group where most recently he was president and CEO of Moët & Chandon, S.A.

The retail sector is expected to see over 8,000 job cuts in the coming months, a new report on planned layoffs from Chicago-based outplacement company Challenger, Gray & Christmas shows.

CVS has announced that Larry J. Merlo has assumed the role of chief executive officer. Merlo, now president and CEO of CVS Caremark, succeeds Thomas M. Ryan who will remain non-executive chairman until his retirement at the company's annual meeting in May.

A solid guarantee is an important part of the selling process. It tells consumers that you stand behind your products and are truly focused on their needs. Prominently displaying your guarantee on your website and/or catalog makes sense, and should be heavily promoted as part of your offer.

Jill Granoff, chief executive officer of Kenneth Cole Productions, announced her resignation, effective immediately. She had been at company for three years. In a statement, the company described the decision to find a new CEO as "mutual." Kenneth Cole, who founded the firm in 1982, will take on Granoff’s duties temporarily as the search for a new CEO begins. 

Sears has announced that Lou D’Ambrosio will assume duties today as chief executive officer and president. D’Ambrosio, a former CEO of telecommunications company Avaya Inc., was named to the posts yesterday. Over the last six months, he worked as a consultant to the Sears board on strategic and operational matters, the company said.