Discovery Commerce, the retail and licensing division of Discovery Communications Inc. (Silver Spring, Md.), has hired retail veteran Maureen Watson as executive vp, merchandising and product development, overseeing the entire merchant, product development, planning and visual merchandising departments for Discovery's retail channels — Discovery Channel Store, Discoverystore.com and the Discovery Channel Store Catalog. She will be based in Discovery Retail's Berkeley, Calif., office and will report to Discovery Commerce president Frank Rosales.
Watson comes to Discovery from Gap Inc. (San Francisco) where, during her nine years there, she worked her way up from senior merchandiser at Gap Brand to vp, kids merchandise, for the company's Old Navy division. In this role, she led a cross-functional team that included design, production, planning, distribution and marketing. She also headed a strategic initiative to revamp Old Navy's product development pipeline, working directly with Old Navy president Jenny Ming. She also helped introduce the Old Navy brand to Canada, and grew the number of stores there from 12 to 33 in two years. Watson began her retail career in 1989, in the Saks Fifth Avenue executive training program.
Discovery's retail channels include a nationwide chain of Discovery Channel Stores, a seasonal Discovery Channel Store catalog, discoverystore.com and direct-to-consumer businesses.