Board of Directors

Ramesh Chikkala has been a Director since May 2022 and 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. Mr. Chikkala also serves on an advisory board for Vorto, an AI powered supply chain technology company.

His experience in supply chain operations, information technology and store operations in publicly-traded companies brings significant expertise to our Board in supply chain strategy and management.

Member of the Audit Committee

Anthony F. Crudele has been a Director since May 2012 and 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 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 (inactive) 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 Advisory Board of Directors of the privately held retailer Northern Tool & Equipment and serves on its Audit Committee. He previously sat on the Board of Directors and served on the Audit Committee of Tuesday Morning, a publicly traded retailer, from January 2021 until September 2022.

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.”

Board Chair
Member of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee
Non-voting Member of the Audit Committee
Non-voting Member of the Compensation Committee

Pamela J. Edwards has been a Director since June 2022 and holds 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 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. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of Neiman Marcus Group, LLC, where she is Chair of the Audit Committee.

Her extensive background brings valuable perspective and expertise to our Board and Audit Committee. Ms. Edwards qualifies as an “audit committee financial expert” within the meaning of applicable regulations of the SEC pursuant to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (“SOX”). Ms. Edwards is also NACD Directorship Certified®.

Member of the Audit Committee

Michael E. Longo has been a non-independent Director since December 2019 and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering from the United States Military Academy and an MBA from Harvard University. He joined the Company as Chief Executive Officer and President in December 2019. 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.

Linda Hubbard has been a Director since May 2021 and 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 on the Board of Directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago where she serves on the Board’s Executive Committee, Audit Committee and Governance and Human Resources Committee. In 2022, Ms. Hubbard served as Chair on 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 2024. Ms. Hubbard is a certified public accountant and Chartered Global Management 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