Circuit City Says Schoonover CEO As Of March 1st

By Alan Wolf -- TWICE, 1/5/2006

RICHMOND, VA. — Circuit City's chairman and chief executive Alan McCollough will step down as CEO on Feb. 28 and will not seek reelection to the company's board after his term expires in June.

He will be succeeded as CEO by president Phil Schoonover on March 1.

McCollough, 56, has decided to retire, the company said, and will relinquish his role as chairman at the 2006 annual shareholder's meeting in June.

Schoonover was unanimously elected to the board at a Circuit City directors' meeting held on Saturday, where he was also tapped as CEO elect.

In a statement, lead director James Hardymon said, “On behalf of the board of directors, I want to thank Alan for his accomplishments in building a new Circuit City. During his tenure as chief executive officer, he orchestrated the transformation of the company's senior management team, a team that has already demonstrated its strong capabilities and intense desire to win, and he has made the difficult decisions necessary to turn around a company in a tough competitive market. Today, Circuit City is better positioned to succeed in the future thanks to his efforts.”

McCollough joined the company in 1987 as general manager of corporate operations. He was elected assistant VP in 1989, VP/central division president in 1991, merchandising senior VP in 1994, president/COO in 1997, CEO in June 2000 and chairman in June 2002. McCollough has been a director of the company since 1999.

“The board is excited about Phil stepping up to the CEO role and leading Circuit City through its next chapter of success,” Hardymon continued. “He combines exceptional experience in the consumer electronics industry with strong vision and great leadership skills. Phil has clearly demonstrated those skills over the past year as he led the operational transformation of the company and started our innovation work, which is a critical component of the company's future success.”

Schoonover, 45, joined Circuit City as executive VP/chief merchandising officer in October 2004 and was named president in February 2005. Schoonover has been responsible for store operations, marketing, merchandising, supply chain, business development and strategy groups. Prior to joining Circuit City, he was customer segments executive VP at Best Buy from April 2004 to September 2004. Schoonover joined Best Buy in 1995 and served in various senior management positions in merchandising and new business development. He has also held senior management positions with Tops Appliance City and senior sales and marketing positions with Sony Corp. of America.