Management Turnover as Change Agent

Thursday, November 29, 2007

Advance Auto Parts' Six Month Search For CEO Ends

Advance Auto Parts AAP (NYSE), a retailer of automotive aftermarket parts, announced today that Darren R. Jackson would become president and chief executive, effective Jan. 7. Jackson, 43, replaces John C. Brouillard, who has held the roles since Michael N. Coppola resigned in May. I wrote a piece on Coppola's exit back in late May.

Jackson is a somewhat unusual choice, he was most recently an executive vice president at Best Buy Co. Inc., and has been on Advance Auto Parts' board since 2004. Jackson has both an operations and finance background along with an understanding of retail but he has never worked in the auto parts industry. We will just have to wait and see what he brings to the table as a chief executive.

For more on the appointment:

Forbes
Portfolio.com

1 comment:

bestonline323 said...

Advance Auto Parts hosted its quarterly earnings conference call Thursday. I don’t think you should concern yourself with 90% of the conference call. I think the only thing that matters right now is the selection of a GREAT new CEO.

First of all, I want to say that I had a considerable amount of respect for Mike Coppola. But sometimes a company and even an industry just need new leadership.

When Advance reported fourth quarter 2006 results, I said:

Yet, I think Mike Coppolla's (Advance Auto Parts CEO) statement on the company's conference call yesterday morning (opening quote) was a good sign that the industry is beginning to notice something is wrong. Admitting there is a problem is the first step. It is early days, and things (like sales and earnings) may very well get worse in 2007 before they get better.


Cheers,
James Woodson
nissan auto parts