Sears Has New CE Chief

By Alan Wolf and Steve Smith -- TWICE, 8/25/2011

Hoffman Estates, Ill.  - Allen Ravas has succeeded Karen Austin as president of consumer electronics for Sears Holdings.

Ravas, who also holds a corporate senior VP title, joined Sears in 1997 and has variously served as finance senior VP, chief financial officer of Sears Canada, and chief administrative officer of Sears' Orchard Hardware Supply, among other positions.

His predecessor, Austin, left this past May to serve as chief information officer at Pacific Gas and Electric, a position she had previously held at Sears. During her two-year tenure in CE she upgraded the assortment, redesigned the department, updated the sales training, introduced a new marketing campaign, and launched several e- and m-commerce initiatives. Nevertheless, Sears, and to a lesser extend Kmart, continued to shed CE share under her watch.

Sears didn't announce the succession, which took place in May.

Reporting to Ravas is Rayman Cheng, who succeeds Elliot Becker as VP/divisional merchandise manager. Cheng joined Sears from Retrevo.com, where he was chief merchant, and before that held senior merchandising and operations positions at Fry's Electronics.