Dollar General promotes 8 from within
Dollar General on Tuesday announced the promotion of eight internal officers, touting its focus on creating paths for advancement at the retailer.
“We prioritize employee growth and development because it allows us to live our mission of ‘Serving Others’ in the communities we call home and bring to action our fourth operating priority of ‘Investing in Our Diverse Teams through Development, Empowerment and Inclusion,’” said Todd Vasos, Dollar General CEO.
The company promoted Rod West to senior vice president of distribution; Melissa Heisse to vice president of lease administration; Angela Martin to vice president of consumer insights and branding; Shareeka Meadows to vice president, division merchandise manager; Nick Snow to vice president of decision science and analytics; Denine Torr to vice president of corporate social responsibility/philanthropy; Jeff Vaughan to vice president of channel innovation; and Pooh Vichidvongsa to vice president, division merchandise manager.
West’s new role comes after 15 years with the company, serving in various procurement and cost-reduction roles. Most recently, he was vice president of perishables growth and development, spearheading the company’s DG Fresh initiative from concept to design and implementation. He also was an executive sponsor of the company’s African American employee resource group from 2010 to 2013.
In merchandising, Meadows has played a key role in growing the company’s apparel division since she joined Dollar General in 2012, and has led the company’s efforts to provide customers and employees access to personal protective equipment throughout the pandemic. She currently is president of the company’s African American employee resource group. Also moving into a DMM role is Vichidvongsa, who over her 13-year tenure at Dollar General has held various roles of increasing responsibility. Most recently, she helped drive the success of the retailer’s non-consumables initiative.
Vaughan moves out of his role as vice president and merchandise manager in consumables into the channel innovation position. He will bring more than eight years of experience at the chain to the position, having joined the company in 2012 as a demand chain management analyst.
Martin is bringing more than 30 years of Dollar General experience to her new role leading customer insights and branding efforts. Snow brings more than 16 years of experience to his new position, which gives him responsibility for analytical and decision-making support within various internal departments. He also will be responsible for behavioral science, pricing strategy, macro trends and forecasting analytics for the entire organization.
Heisse has led Dollar General’s rent reduction initiative since it launched more than 10 years ago, and has moved up through the company’s ranks, most recently working as senior director of lease administration. In her vice president role, she will continue to lead asset strategy planning and ensure compliance with all lease requirements.
Torr has been a critical part of Dollar General’s corporate philanthropy efforts to her new role leading the company’s social responsibility efforts and heading up philanthropic efforts. Among the successful programs she championed is the company’s employee assistance foundation, which awarded more than $10 million in financial assistance to employees since 2005, as well as the Dollar General Literacy Foundation, which she has grown into an actively managed foundation that has distributed more than $16 million, according to 2020 data.