The C-suite moves to know in October

CEOs were on the go in October, with a slew of retailers and brands from Costco to Olaplex replacing their top execs. Here are the month’s most notable moves:

• Costco CEO Craig Jelinek will step down at the end of the year, the retailer announced, set to be replaced by president and COO Ron Vachris. Vachris, who started at Costco decades ago as a forklift driver, will be just its second CEO after the retailer’s co-founders.
• After retiring last year, former Dollar General CEO Todd Vasos was reinstated as its chief exec, replacing Jeff Owen, who served at the retailer for under a year. The move was aimed at restoring “stability and confidence” in the struggling company, according to a statement from the company’s board.
• Rite Aid filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, replacing its interim CEO Elizabeth Burr with Jeffrey Stein as CEO and chief restructuring officer.
• Party City, meanwhile, exited Chapter 11 bankruptcy, at the same time announcing its CEO Brad Weston, who has led the retailer since 2019, would resign. President and chief commercial officer Sean Thompson will take over as interim CEO.
• Walgreens tapped healthcare industry veteran Tim Wentworth as CEO after Rosalind Brewer stepped down from the role in September.
• Olaplex CEO JuE Wong has exited her role, set to be replaced by former Supergoop CEO Amanda Baldwin in early 2024. Executive board chair John Bilbrey will serve as interim CEO.
• Tupperware Brands Corporation named former Spanx CEO Laurie Ann Goldman as its new CEO, president, and director of the board, replacing Miguel Fernandez, who joined the company in March 2020.
• Koichiro Kodama returned to the role of Asics’s North American CEO, first holding the role from February 2019 to December 2020.
• Target COO John Mulligan, who joined the retailer in 1996, will leave his position in February, shifting to a strategic advisor before retiring in February 2025.
• Shawn Curran, former COO at Gap and Old Navy, joined Under Armour as its chief supply chain officer. American Eagle, too, added a new chief supply chain officer, Sarah Clarke, former supply chain chief at Tommy Hilfigger-owner PVH.

Slam dunk: Shaquille O’Neal secured what was arguably the month’s best new job—Reebok named him its president of basketball (with Allen Iversen serving as vice president of basketball), a move the brand promoted by selling “Shaq for President'” t-shirts.