Management

LVMH announced the appointment of longtime Procter & Gamble veteran Christopher de Lapuente as global president and CEO of Sephora, effective March 31, 2011. Lapuente joined P&G in 1983. He spent the whole of his career with the company, and in 2004, he was appointed president, the youngest ever in P&G history.

Orchard Supply Hardware named Mark Baker president and CEO. Baker will also join Orchard Supply's board. Orchard Supply announced in December that it was looking for a replacement for then-CEO Rob Lynch, who resigned.

In a recent study by COLLOQUY, 26 percent of surveyed consumers said they're far more likely to spread the word to family, friends and co-workers about a bad experience with a product or service rather than a good one.

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.

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.

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.

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.