Spencer Stuart Lands CEO for Advance Auto Parts
April 8, 2016 – Spencer Stuart has placed Thomas Greco as chief executive officer of Advance Auto Parts. The search included internal and external candidates. Mr. Greco takes over for president George Sherman who had been serving as interim CEO.
The search process was overseen by the board’s nominating and corporate governance committee, which was comprised of committee chair Jeff Smith, lead independent director John Ferraro, and executive chairman Jack Brouillard along with Spencer Stuart consultants.
Mr. Greco joins Advance Auto Parts following a successful 30-year career at PepsiCo. Most recently, he served as CEO of Frito-Lay North America, where he was responsible for PepsiCo’s $14.8 billion snack and convenient foods business in the U.S. and Canada. During his tenure, he led PepsiCo’s most profitable operating segment in consistently driving sales and improved operating profits.
He brings deep experience in leading a sales-driven organization with over 55,000 employees as well as significant expertise in managing a complex operational infrastructure, transforming a supply chain, and retooling go-to-market systems to better meet customer needs.
“After a thorough search, we are pleased to have found an exceptional leader and operator with a proven track record of designing and executing winning strategies, driving profitable growth, and building an exceptional talent base,” said Jack Brouillard, executive chairman. “The board is confident that Advance will benefit from Tom’s commercial expertise and energetic, solutions-oriented approach to leading complex, customer-focused operations in a competitive environment. The board looks forward to working closely with him and the rest of our talented executives as we build value for our shareholders, customers, and team members.”
“Advance has made considerable progress on a number of important objectives as we work to deliver improved and more consistent performance,” said Mr. Sherman. “I want to welcome Tom to our team and look forward to working with him to take advantage of our tremendous opportunity.”
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Based in Roanoke, Advance Auto Parts is an automotive aftermarket parts provider in North America, serving both the professional installer and do-it-yourself customers. The company operates 5,240 stores and 118 Worldpac branches and serves approximately 1,300 independently owned Carquest branded stores in the U.S., Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Canada. Advance employs approximately 75,000.
Spencer Stuart’s CEO practice has conducted nearly 1,500 CEO search and succession assignments over the past half decade or so. Recruiter Jim Citrin leads the firm’s North American CEO sector group.
During his 20-plus years with the firm, Mr. Citrin has worked with clients on more than 600 CEO, board director, CFO and other top management searches and CEO succession assignments. He has handled a number of high-profile CEO searches including the ones that led to the hiring of Marissa Mayer at Yahoo, Léo Apotheker at Hewlett-Packard, Jack Dorsey at Twitter, and the promotion of Brian Krzanich to CEO at Intel. Currently, Spencer Stuart is heading the CEO search for Shutterfly.
Contributed by Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor, Hunt Scanlon Media
