Minneapolis – Best Buy’s chief human services officer Shari Ballard has assumed the added role of U.S. retail president, in a return to earlier responsibilities.
The company didn’t announce the appointment, although Ballard’s bio has been updated on Best Buy’s corporate website.
She succeeds Shawn Score, a 27-year Best Buy veteran who was given the assignment last year after running the chain’s connectivity and mobile businesses. During his watch the chain built mobile departments within all its flagship stores and opened more than 400 standalone Best Buy Mobile boutiques around the country.
Score retired effective April 14, the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal reported.
Ballard joined Best Buy in 1993 as an assistant store manager and by 2007 was responsible for all U.S. stores as retail channel management executive VP. Three years later she was appointed co-president of Americas with Mike Vitelli, and was named president of international in 2012.
No successor was announced for the international post, although under president/CEO Hubert Joly’s watch the company has significantly diminished its overseas operations.
In her latest role, Ballard is responsible for the end-to-end operations and execution of all Best Buy stores in the U.S., the chain said.
