AutoZone has announced the several organizational changes, effective immediately.
Among the changes, Mark Finestone, senior vice president, merchandising and store development, has been promoted to executive vice president, merchandising, supply chain and marketing.
Bill Graves, senior vice president, supply chain and international, has been promoted to executive vice president, Mexico, Brazil, IMC and store development.
Tom Newbern, senior vice president, store operations and loss prevention, has been promoted to executive vice president, store operations, commercial and loss prevention.
“With these promotions, we continue to strengthen our senior leadership team with seasoned and accomplished AutoZoners,” said Bill Rhodes, chairman, president and CEO. “Mark, Bill and Tom have proven leadership abilities that have been invaluable to our past successes and their experiences will serve this company at a very high level for many years to come.”
In other news, AutoZone’s board of directors has authorized the repurchase of an additional $750 million of the company’s common stock in connection with its ongoing share repurchase program. Since the inception of the repurchase program in 1998, and including the above amount, AutoZone’s board of directors has authorized the repurchase of $16.4 billion in the company’s stock.
“AutoZone’s continued strong financial performance allows us to repurchase our stock while maintaining our investment grade credit ratings,” said Bill Giles, executive vice president, chief financial officer, information technology and ALLDATA. “We remain committed to utilizing share repurchases within the bounds of a disciplined capital structure to enhance stockholder returns while maintaining adequate liquidity to execute our plans.
