Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. Rounds Out Store Leadership Team With Appointments of Mary-Farrell Tarbox and Ann-Marie Clendenin

UNION, N.J., Oct. 22, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (Nasdaq: BBBY) has appointed Mary-Farrell Tarbox and Ann-Marie Clendenin as Regional Vice Presidents (RVP) for the Central and East regions respectively, effective October 26, 2020.  Both Ms. Tarbox and Ms. Clendenin will report directly to Executive Vice President and Chief Stores Officer, Gregg Melnick, to round out Bed Bath & Beyond's store leadership team.  Ms. Tarbox will be responsible for over 350 of Bed Bath & Beyond's retail stores across 22 states, while Ms. Clendenin will oversee another approximately 200 stores across 12 states. 

Mses. Tarbox and Clendenin will be integral to the implementation of the Company's store optimization plans, helping accelerate the omni-always transformation underway as the Company rapidly evolves the shopping experience for customers across channels.  They will work with Mr. Melnick and his team to execute a cultural shift in the way Bed Bath & Beyond manages store operations and teams, to encourage greater centralization, agility and a more customer-inspired response as the Company makes significant investments in stores in the coming years.    

Gregg Melnick said, "We're rapidly changing the way we serve our digital-first customers, using our stores as a strategic asset to deliver an omni-always experience.  Mary-Farrell has an extraordinary track record driving transformation at industry-leading retailers, and her deep expertise in human resources and store operations will allow us to increase the pace of change in our business.  At the same time, Ann-Marie brings a wealth of global omnichannel retail experience that will allow us to accelerate the implementation of new technologies and processes to serve our customers even better in future.  As we continue to see a strong response from customers to our new, easy and convenient services like BOPIS, Curbside Pickup and Same Day Delivery, we look forward to making it even easier to feel at home with Bed Bath & Beyond."

Prior to joining Bed Bath & Beyond, Ms. Tarbox held multiple roles at Crate & Barrel Holdings, including as Vice President for Stores.  Most recently, Ms. Tarbox was Senior Vice President for Human Resources, where she was responsible for transforming HR to support and drive results by attracting, developing and retaining best-in-class talent.  Prior to Crate & Barrel, she held senior store operations roles at PetSmart, Inc. and Target Corporation.

Ms. Tarbox said, "I am delighted to join Bed Bath & Beyond at such a pivotal time of growth and transformation.  As the Company continues to take meaningful steps to improve the way it serves customers, I am excited to help lead a cultural change in store operations to make the omnichannel experience even better in the future."

Ms. Clendenin joins Bed Bath & Beyond after serving as US Retail President for Aritzia, prior to which she spent more than 8 years at the Kate Spade organization as Vice President for Global Omnichannel Operations.  Before this, she held senior roles at Aeropostale, including as Director of Field Operations. Ms. Clendenin also worked at Bed Bath & Beyond as General Manager from 2002 to 2003. 

Ms. Clendenin said, "It's such an exciting time to rejoin Bed Bath & Beyond, and I am thrilled to come back to the business at a time when the Home category is playing such an important role in the lives of customers across North America.  I look forward to helping accelerate the technology-led transformation of store operations to drive growth and relevance with a new generation of customers."   

About Bed Bath & Beyond Inc.

Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. and subsidiaries (the "Company") is an omnichannel retailer that makes it easy for our customers to feel at home.  The Company sells a wide assortment of merchandise in the Home, Baby, Beauty and Wellness markets.  Additionally, the Company is a partner in a joint venture which operates retail stores in Mexico under the name Bed Bath & Beyond.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, the Company's progress and anticipated progress towards its long-term objectives. Many of these forward-looking statements can be identified by use of words such as may, will, expect, anticipate, approximate, estimate, assume, continue, model, project, plan, goal, and similar words and phrases, although the absence of those words does not necessarily mean that statements are not forward-looking. The Company's actual results and future financial condition may differ materially from those expressed in any such forward-looking statements as a result of many factors. Such factors include, without limitation: general economic conditions including the housing market, a challenging overall macroeconomic environment and related changes in the retailing environment; risks associated with the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) and the governmental responses to it, including its impacts across the Company's businesses on demand and operations, as well as on the operations of the Company's suppliers and other business partners, and the effectiveness of the Company's actions taken in response to these risks; consumer preferences, spending habits and adoption of new technologies; demographics and other macroeconomic factors that may impact the level of spending for the types of merchandise sold by the Company; civil disturbances and terrorist acts; unusual weather patterns and natural disasters; competition from existing and potential competitors across all channels; pricing pressures; liquidity; the ability to achieve anticipated cost savings, and to not exceed anticipated costs, associated with organizational changes and investments, including the Company's strategic restructuring program; the ability to attract and retain qualified employees in all areas of the organization; the cost of labor, merchandise and other costs and expenses; potential supply chain disruption due to trade restrictions, and other factors such as natural disasters, such as pandemics, including the COVID-19 pandemic, political instability, labor disturbances, product recalls, financial or operational instability of suppliers or carriers, and other items; the ability to find suitable locations at acceptable occupancy costs and other terms to support the Company's plans for new stores; the ability to establish and profitably maintain the appropriate mix of digital and physical presence in the markets it serves; the ability to assess and implement technologies in support of the Company's development of its omnichannel capabilities; the ability to effectively and timely adjust the Company's plans in the face of the rapidly changing retail and economic environment, including in response to the COVID-19 pandemic; uncertainty in financial markets; volatility in the price of the Company's common stock and its effect, and the effect of other factors, including the COVID-19 pandemic, on the Company's capital allocation strategy; risks associated with the ability to achieve a successful outcome for its business concepts and to otherwise achieve its business strategies; the impact of intangible asset and other impairments; disruptions to the Company's information technology systems including but not limited to security breaches of systems protecting consumer and employee information or other types of cybercrimes or cybersecurity attacks; reputational risk arising from challenges to the Company's or a third party product or service supplier's compliance with various laws, regulations or standards, including those related to labor, health, safety, privacy or the environment; reputational risk arising from third-party merchandise or service vendor performance in direct home delivery or assembly of product for customers; changes to statutory, regulatory and legal requirements, including without limitation proposed changes affecting international trade; changes to, or new, tax laws or interpretation of existing tax laws; new, or developments in existing, litigation, claims or assessments; changes to, or new, accounting standards; and foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations. Except as required by law, the Company does not undertake any obligation to update its forward-looking statements.

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SOURCE Bed Bath & Beyond