Bed Bath & Beyond strengthens leaders around private brands

Jim Reath has been tapped as the company’s senior vice president of marketing, overseeing the upcoming launch of new owned brands set to hit this spring. He also will lead the marketing strategy and deployment across all channels and operations for Bed Bath & Beyond stores, buybuy Baby, and Harmon Health and Beauty. 

Additionally, BB&B has hired Kristi Argyilan to be the company’s senior vice president of brand innovation, a role that has her driving marketing innovation such as expanding the customer insights capabilities at the company, introducing a new enterprise-wide loyalty program and developing new strategic partnerships.

Both Reath and Argyilan will report to chief brand officer Cindy Davis. "Our portfolio of brands is uniquely positioned to serve customers across the magic moments in their lives, and we will deepen our connection by taking a customer-inspired approach to build on our authority in the Home, Baby, Beauty and Wellness markets,” Davis said. “Kristi and Jim bring deep expertise building brands, businesses and long-lasting customer relationships across the retail and consumer goods sectors, experience that will help us innovate and inspire our customers to unlock the magic in every room."

Argyilan joins BB&B from Target, where she served as president of its media company Roundel following an earlier role as SVP for media, guest engagement and measurement. Bed Bath & Beyond’s CEO Mark Tritton also came from Target, where he oversaw the launch of several store brands. Before that, Argyilan held strategic roles at Mediabrands, including as president of Magna Global and chief transformation officer at UM. She has also held executive positions at Arnold and Hill Holiday.

Reath comes to the store from Macy's, where he was a senior marketer with responsibility for data-led, integrated omni-channel marketing to build affinity and loyalty for the brand across multiple customer segments. He was also previously an executive at BBDO, working for Lowe's Home Improvement, ToysRUs, BabiesRUs and Foot Locker. He has also held executive positions at McKinney, Y&R, and Leo Burnett.