Big Lots’ Big Guy

Big Lots Inc. (Columbus, Ohio) has named Steven Fishman as chairman, ceo and president.

Fishman will replace Michael Potter, who in January announced his intention to step down from the ceo position in order to relocate his family back to the West Coast. Potter will also resign from the Big Lots board of directors concurrent with Fishman’s arrival.

Fishman is a 30-year veteran retail executive who was most recently president and ceo of Rhodes Furniture (Atlanta). After serving on the Rhodes board for five years, Fishman was asked in 2004 to step into the role of president, ceo and chief restructuring officer in order to strategically reposition the business and improve its operating performance. “The majority of my work at Rhodes is complete, and I feel confident we are on track with our goal of filing a plan of reorganization,” stated Fishman.

Prior to Rhodes, Fishman was the chairman and ceo of Frank’s Nursery & Crafts (Troy, Mich.), where he was recruited to accomplish similar repositioning objectives for a company in bankruptcy protection. Under Fishman’s leadership, Frank’s profitability was dramatically improved and it emerged from bankruptcy and completed a public offering in less than one year.

From 1993 to 1999, Fishman led Pamida Inc. (Omaha, Neb.), as chairman and ceo, where he completed the sale of the general merchandise discounter to ShopKo Stores Inc. (Green Bay, Wis.). Prior to Pamida, he held several senior executive merchandising positions within Federated Department Stores (Cincinnati) and The May Department Stores Co. (St. Louis).

Joel Dugan, Rhodes’ cfo and a 20-year employee of the bankrupt furniture company, was named president and ceo to replace Fishman. Rhodes is in the process of formulating its Chapter 11 reorganization plan and expects to emerge from bankruptcy by early fall. It filed a voluntary petition to restructure under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code in November 2004.