Board of Directors
Ramesh Chikkala
Ramesh Chikkala was elected to our Board of Directors in May 2022 and currently serves as a member of our Audit Committee. He holds a Master of Science degree in Industrial and Systems Engineering from Ohio University at Athens, a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Mumbai in Maharashtra, India and a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering degree from Osmania University in Andhra Pradesh, India. Mr. Chikkala is currently a senior advisor to the operations/supply chain practice at Kearney, Inc. and serves as adjunct faculty at UNC Charlotte, where he teaches the core operations management course. Mr. Chikkala previously worked for Walmart, Inc. from 2006 through 2019 in areas of increasing responsibility with his most recent role as Senior Vice President, Global Supply Chain (Omnichannel) and Food Manufacturing from 2013 to 2019. He served as Senior Vice President, Information Technology, from 2006 through 2013. In addition, he has held senior positions in multiple functions at retailers including the Family Dollar Stores, Gap, Inc. and Food Lion. His experience in supply chain operations and information technology in publicly-traded companies brings significant expertise to our Board in supply chain strategy and management.
Member of the Audit Committee
Anthony F. Crudele
Anthony F. Crudele has been a Director since May 2012 and currently serves as the Chairman of our Board and is a member of our Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee. As Chairman, he also participates in meetings of the Audit and Compensation Committees. He holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Accounting from the University of Notre Dame. He served as the Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer of Tractor Supply Company (TSC) from May 2007 through February 2017 and previously served as their Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer since joining the company in September 2005. Prior to that time, he served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Gibson Guitar from 2003 to 2005; as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Xcelerate Corp from 2000 to 2003; and in senior financial roles at The Sports Authority from 1989 to 1999, including Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer from 1996 to 1999. Mr. Crudele is a certified public accountant and began his career in 1978, spending the majority of his public accounting tenure at the international accounting firm of Price Waterhouse. Mr. Crudele currently sits on the Board of Directors of the public retailer Tuesday Morning and serves on its Audit Committee. His past positions as CFO of publicly traded retail companies bring insight of retail operations and strategies. He qualifies as an “audit committee financial expert.”
Member of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee
Non-voting Member of the Audit Committee
Non-voting Member of the Compensation Committee
Pamela Edwards
Pamela Edwards was appointed to our Board in June 2022 and currently serves as a member of our Audit Committee. She was most recently with Citi Trends as its Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer from January 2021 to April 2022. Prior to her retirement from Citi Trends, she was with L Brands Inc., as the Chief Financial Officer and Executive President for its Mast Global division from 2017-2020, as the Chief Financial Officer of its Victoria’s Secret division from 2007-2017, and as the Chief Financial Officer of its Express division from 2005-2007. Prior to L Brands Inc., Ms. Edwards worked in various business and financial planning roles at Gap/Old Navy, Sears Roebuck and Kraft Foods. Ms. Edwards has an MBA from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University and a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance from Florida A&M University. She currently serves on the board of directors of Neiman Marcus Group, LLC. Ms. Edwards qualifies as an “audit committee financial expert” and is NACD Directorship Certified®. Her extensive background brings valuable perspective and expertise to our Board and Audit Committee.
Member of the Audit Committee
Karen S. Etzkorn
Karen S. Etzkorn has been a Director since November 2016 and currently serves as a member of our Audit and Compensation Committees. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from Ohio State University. She has served as Chief Information Officer (CIO) and Executive Vice President at HSNi since January 2013 and was appointed the role of CIO at Qurate Retail Group (QVC Group - HSNi’s parent company) in December 2017. Prior to that time, she served as Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer at Ascena Retail, Inc. and Tween Brands, Inc. from January 2008 to September 2012. In addition, she has held senior positions at retailers including The Home Depot, Williams-Sonoma, Gap, Inc. and Limited, Inc. Ms. Etzkorn provides a unique knowledge base to our Board by offering strong technology expertise combined with overall retail understanding.
Member of the Audit Committee
Member of the Compensation Committee
Terrance G. Finley
Terrance G. Finley has been a Director since March 2008 and is currently a member of our Compensation Committee and our Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and Communications from Auburn University. Mr. Finley is currently Chief Executive Officer of Books-A-Million, Inc., where he has worked as President and Chief Operating Officer, Executive Vice President – Chief Merchandising Officer and in various positions within the merchandising group since 1993. His current responsibilities include all the company’s store operations, merchandising, marketing, publishing, import and Internet activities. A veteran of the book industry for over 40 years, Mr. Finley has led several of Books-A-Million’s business units, including the launching of its e-commerce effort. His strong experience in retail store operations, merchandising and marketing are complimentary to the operations of our Company.
Member of the Compensation Committee
Member of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee
Dorlisa K. Flur
Dorlisa K. Flur has been a Director since July 2019 and currently serves as Chair of our Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee and as a member of our Audit Committee. She holds a Master of Business Administration from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University as well as a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and Economics from Duke. Ms. Flur is currently an independent senior advisor and was previously Chief Strategy and Transformation Officer at Southeastern Grocers, Inc. from 2016 until July 2018. From 2013 to 2016, Ms. Flur was Executive Vice President, Omni-channel at Belk, Inc. Prior to Belk, Ms. Flur held several executive and strategic leadership roles at Family Dollar Stores, Inc. from 2004 to 2012, rising to Vice Chair, Strategy and Chief Administrative Officer. She earlier honed her strategic skill set with 16 years at McKinsey and Company, Inc. Additionally, she serves on the Board of Directors of Sally Beauty Holdings, Inc. and serves on their Audit Committee, Nominating, Governance and Corporate Responsibility Committee and Compensation and Talent Committee. She also serves on the Board of Directors of United States Cold Storage, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of London, England based Swire & Sons, Inc. She is a Governance Fellow of the National Association of Corporate Directors and is NACD Directorship Certified.® Ms. Flur brings a key skill set to our Board through her McKinsey background and C-level positions, having managed nearly every line-operating function at several public and private retail companies.
Member of the Audit Committee
Chair of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee
James A. Hilt
James A. Hilt has been a Director since August 2017 and currently serves as a member of our Compensation Committee. He holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science from the University of Minnesota and is an independent advisor. Formerly, he was President of Shutterfly, Inc. from September 2020 through February 2022. He joined Shutterfly as President of the Consumer Division at Shutterfly, Inc. in March 2019. Prior to joining Shutterfly, he served as Executive Vice President and Chief Customer Experience Officer at Express Inc. from April 2018 through March 2019. Mr. Hilt joined Express in February 2014 as Senior Vice President of e-Commerce and served as their EVP, Chief Marketing Officer from March 2015 to April 2018. Prior to joining Express, he was Vice President of eBooks and Managing Director, International at Barnes & Noble, Inc. Earlier in his career, Mr. Hilt held several executive positions at Sears Holdings Corporation, the parent company of Sears Roebuck and Co. and Kmart Corporation. Before Sears, he was a Director of Global Marketing at SAP and held several senior positions at IBM. Mr. Hilt’s strong experience in retail and background in the customer digital experience brings insight for optimizing our long-term e-commerce strategies.
Member of the Compensation Committee
Linda Hubbard
Linda Hubbard has been a Director since May 2021 and currently serves as Chair of our Audit Committee. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Michigan State University in Accounting. Since 2013, Ms. Hubbard has served as the President and Chief Operating Officer of Carhartt, Inc., an apparel manufacturer, wholesaler and retailer which manufactures Carhartt-branded products that are sourced and sold globally. Ms. Hubbard also serves as Secretary/Treasurer/Director on Carhartt’s Board of Directors. She joined Carhartt in 2002 as their Chief Financial Officer. Prior to joining Carhartt, Ms. Hubbard was an audit partner at Plante Moran, one of the nation’s largest certified public accounting and business advisory firms and worked for the firm from 1982 through 2002. In addition, she currently serves as Chair of the Board of Directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago/Detroit Branch. Ms. Hubbard has served on the Bank’s Board since 2017 and her term expires in 2022. Ms. Hubbard is a certified public accountant. Her broad skill set brings the vendor’s perspective to our Company’s retail experience, as well as strong sourcing and logistic disciplines. Her work on the Board of the Federal Reserve Bank brings a different business and geographic perspective to our Board. She qualifies as an “audit committee financial expert.”
Chair of the Audit Committee
Michael E. Longo
Michael E. Longo has been a non-independent Director of our Board since December 2019, when he joined the Company as Chief Executive Officer and President. Formerly, he served as Chief Executive Officer for City Gear, LLC. Prior to City Gear, he worked in positions of increasing responsibility and leadership with AutoZone, Inc. starting as a Vice President of Supply Chain in 1996 to Executive Vice President of Supply Chain, IT, Development, Mexico in 2005. Mr. Longo holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering from the United States Military Academy and an MBA from Harvard University.
Lorna E. Nagler
Lorna E. Nagler has been a Director since July 2019 and currently serves as Chair of our Compensation Committee and member of our Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Retail from the University of Wisconsin. Ms. Nagler brings close to 40 years of experience in the retail industry and served as President of Bealls Department Stores, Inc. from January 2011 to February 2016. Prior to that time, she served as President and CEO of Christopher & Banks Corporation from 2007 to 2010. From 2002 to 2007, she served in several leadership roles at Charming Shoppes, including President of Lane Bryant and President of Catherine Stores. She also held merchandising leadership roles at Kmart Corporation and Kids “R” Us between 1994 and 2001. Additionally, Ms. Nagler currently serves as the Lead Director on the Board of Directors of Ulta Beauty, a Fortune 500 Company, since 2009, and formerly served on the Board of Directors of Christopher & Banks Corporation as a member of their Audit, Compensation and Governance committees. With years of experience as a senior level executive in a wide variety of retail companies, including as President and CEO of a public retail company, Ms. Nagler provides considerable expertise on strategic, management and operational issues facing a multi-state retailer.
Chair of the Compensation Committee
Member of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee