The Board of Directors of Venator Group (New York) has elected Matthew Serra president and ceo. Serra is currently the company's president and coo. J. Carter Bacot, a member of the Venator Board of Directors since 1993, has been elected the non-executive chairman. Both moves are effective as of March 4. The current chairman and ceo, Dale Hilpert, resigned to take the position of ceo at Williams-Sonoma (San Francisco).
Serra had been president and ceo of Venator's (and formerly Woolworth's) Foot Locker Worldwide division. He was also chairman and ceo of Sterns, the Paramus, N.J.-based division of Federated Department Stores (Cincinnati) from 1993 to 1998. Bacot's background has been as a top-level banking and insurance executive.
Venator Group operates approximately 3600 retail stores in 14 countries in North America,Europe and Australia, including Foot Locker, Lady Foot Locker, Kids Foot Locker and Champs Sports.