Fred’s has promoted Mary Lou Gardner to evp/chief merchandising and marketing officer, effective immediately. She replaces Bryan Pugh, who has resigned from the company.
Gardner was most recently an executive with CVS Health Corporation, serving in many capacities during her tenure, including divisional merchandising manager for beauty and personal care, senior director of inventory management, senior director of merchandising general merchandise and consumables, senior director for promotional optimization, and senior director for store brand innovation.
Jerry Shore, Fred’s CEO, said, “I am happy to announce that Mary Lou Gardner has accepted the position as evp/chief merchandising and marketing officer. Mary Lou brings a wealth of leadership experience to the merchandising, marketing, pricing and planning area. She joined Fred’s at the beginning of 2016 as svp/strategy and project management. In this short time span, she has become an instrumental part of the Fred’s team.”
