Today, Sears Holdings announced the election of Paul DePodesta, vp/player development and amateur scouting for the New York Mets, to the company's board of directors. Prior to joining the Mets, DePodesta was the executive vp of the San Diego Padres, and the executive vp/general manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers, where he became the third-youngest person to be named general manager in Major League history.

Previously, he served as the assistant general manager of the Oakland Athletics and began his baseball career with the Cleveland Indians.

"We are pleased to add the strong analytical skills and talent assessment acumen of Paul DePodesta to our board of directors," said Sears Holdings chairman Edward Lampert. " As Sears Holdings continues the work of transforming and strengthening our company, we look forward to his leadership and contributions. Mr. DePodesta's ability to scrutinize data and use it to assess talent and drive execution makes him ideally suited to join our board."