Bed Bath & Beyond on Wednesday said it is realigning its executive leadership team to reflect the strategic priorities and changes that included the decisions to close dozens of stores and lay off 20% of staff.
Mara Sirhal has been appointed to executive vice president and brand president of Bed Bath & Beyond, and Patty Wu has been promoted to executive vice president and brand president of BuyBuy Baby.
The newly created brand president roles will be responsible for each banner’s merchandising, planning and allocation, brand marketing, and stores, and will report directly to Sue Gove, director and interim CEO.
Sirhal most recently served as the company’s executive vice president and chief merchandising officer for the Bed Bath & Beyond banner after joining the company in January 2021 as senior vice president and general manager for Harmon to lead all operational aspects of this business. Sirhal’s retail experience includes nearly 20 years across a variety of categories in merchandising, product development, planning, digital, inventory management, supplier diversity and leased businesses at Macy’s Inc.
Wu has served as the senior vice president and general manager of BuyBuy Baby since joining the company in January 2021. Prior to BuyBuy Baby, Wu held several executive leadership positions across retail and business, including the roles of chief commercial officer of Beautycounter, chief commercial officer and general manager of the Baby Division at the Honest Co., as well as senior management roles at Mattel Inc. and Walmart.
In conjunction with these changes, the company has eliminated the chief operating officer and chief stores officer roles. Accordingly, John Hartmann and Gregg Melnick will be departing the company.
Harriet Edelman, independent chair of the Bed Bath & Beyond board of directors, said: “It is clear from the focused work to date, evidenced by the breadth of today’s announcements, that Sue has quickly formulated and executed important changes to customer-facing strategy, operations, management team, cost structure and liquidity. On behalf of the entire board, we are very pleased and confident that Sue’s dedicated leadership will continue to have a significant, positive impact on company performance. Regarding our search for the company’s next chief executive officer, the company’s board of directors previously announced that it retained nationally recognized firm, Russell Reynolds. We are in the earliest phase of the search process and will provide an update when appropriate.”
