Top Dollar

Dollar General Corp. (Goodlettsville, Tenn.) has named Lawrence Jackson as its new president and coo, effective Sept. 22, 2003.

Jackson, who will report to chairman and ceo David Perdue, will be responsible for overseeing all business operations of the company, including store operations, merchandising, new store development and supply-chain functions.

He most recently served as senior vp, supply operations, for Safeway Inc. (Pleasanton, Calif.). Prior to joining Safeway, Jackson spent 17 years in management at Pepsi Cola Co. (Purchase, N.Y.), serving in various functions at various Pepsi facilities, including vp of operations, distribution and technical services (Pepsi-Cola Co., Irvine, Calif. 1988-1991); vp, on-premise sales, (Dallas, 1991-1992), vp, general manager (Atlanta, 1992-1994) and coo, senior vp of worldwide operations (Dallas, 1995-1997).

Jackson was named one of Fortune Magazine's 50 most powerful black executives in 2002, and is on the board of directors for Radio Shack, Allied Waste, Inc., and Parsons Corporation.

In addition, Dollar General announced a reorganization of its executive team. Stonie O'Briant has been named executive vp of merchandising, marketing and strategic planning; and Tom Hartshorn has been named executive vp of new business development. Both will report directly to Jackson. The Company also announced a search for a new store operations executive, to include both internal and external candidates.

Dollar General operates 6479 discount stores in 27 states. The typical Dollar General store has 6750 square feet of selling space and is located within five miles of its target customers.