Best Buy savior Hubert Joly is passing the management baton to his chief financial officer Corie Barry, effective June 11, the company announced this morning.
Joly, who is credited with saving the last remaining national CE chain from possible extinction, will relinquish his chairman/CEO title and assume the advisory role of executive chairman.
Barry, who also serves as chief strategic transformation officer, will become CEO at the company’s annual board meeting in June.
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At the same time, chief operating officer and de facto president Mike Mohan will formally be named president/COO at the meeting.
Best Buy said the senior management moves reflect an “ongoing succession planning process and are designed to provide leadership continuity as the company continues to execute its strategic growth initiatives.”
In 2017 Joly was rumored to be returning to France to helm French hypermarket chain Carrefour, but strongly denied published reports.
The groundwork for the succession was laid last November, when Barry and Mohan received new titles and responsibilities.
See: Best Buy Elevates Top Execs
Joly, a former Carlson and Vivendi CEO, joined the company in 2012 amid deepening losses, sales declines and a scandal involving its then CEO Brian Dunn. Following a challenge by founder Dick Schulze for control of the company, Joly embarked on his “Renew Blue” turnaround strategy that included cutting costs, revamping the supply chain, overhauling e-commerce operations, and enlisting vendors to help subsidize his sales floors.
Related: Joly Building A Better Best Buy
More recently he has expanded Best Buy’s services offering and acquired senior-focused mobile provider GreatCall in its pursuit of the remote elderly care market.
Having stabilized the business and returned it to growth mode, he is now handing the reins off to Barry, a Deloitte & Touche veteran who joined Best Buy in 1999. After holding a variety of financial and operational roles, she was named chief strategic growth officer and in 2016 was promoted to chief financial officer. Her current responsibilities include strategic transformation and growth, digital and technology, global finance, investor relations, enterprise risk and compliance, integration management and Best Buy Health, which includes GreatCall.
Mohan, Best Buy’s longtime chief merchant, joined the company in 2004 from Good Guys, the California CE specialty chain, where he was VP/general merchandise manager. Beginning as digital imaging VP, he assumed additional responsibilities across nearly all of Best Buy’s product and business categories, including branded in-store shops, the expansion of Best Buy’s Magnolia and Pacific Kitchen & Home premium CE and appliance departments, the growth of its private-label brands and the rise of emerging categories like 4K UHD TV, health and fitness devices and connected-home products.
According to Seeking Alpha, early analyst reaction has been positive. “She [Barry] is a strategic thinker who helped develop the turnaround strategy with current CEO Hubert Joly and has been at his side laying the plan for the future,” wrote Telsey Advisory Group analyst Joseph Feldman.
Noted Best Buy board director Russel Fradin, “We are confident that Corie and Mike are perfectly suited to continue working with Hubert and the rest of the management team to build on our success and drive Best Buy into the next phase of its transformation.”
The company also said it will conduct an internal and external search for a new CFO.
Related: Joly, Barry Share Thoughts On Evolution Of Leadership Roles
