Craig Wimsatt to lead Bharti Retail operations
Wimsatt will continue to lead the retail chain's operations in his current capacity as COO of the company
New Delhi: Craig Wimsatt, chief operating officer of Bharti Retail Ltd, will lead the company’s operations after chief executive officer (CEO) Raj Jain quit, a company spokesperson said in a statement on Wednesday.
“Having successfully led the business through the transition phase, Raj has decided to move on to pursue opportunities outside of Bharti. We respect his decision and wish him good luck for the future. Craig Wimsatt, currently the COO, will lead the operations at Bharti Retail," said the company spokersperson.
Wimsatt will, however, continue to lead the retail chain’s operations in his current capacity as COO of the company that operates a chain of 210 EasyDay neighbourhood convenience stores and compact hypermarkets in Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.
Wimsatt joined Bharti in February and was formally named the COO in August. Wimsatt had earlier worked with Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Bharti’s partner in a wholesale joint venture, where he spent close to two decades working across countries and operations.
From 2007-2009, Wimsatt was based in Gurgaon, as the chief operating officer of the Bharti-Walmart joint venture that operated wholesale stores under the Best Price Modern Wholesale brand name and was vice-president of Wal-Mart International. The joint venture was subsequently called off in October 2013.
He returned to the US to work at Wal-Mart’s headquarters in Bentoville, Arkansas, before returning to India to join Bharti Retail.
On Tuesday, Mint had first reported that Jain was leaving Bharti Retail to head Bennett, Coleman and Co. Ltd, the publisher of Times of India newspaper. At Bharti, Jain led the company’s joint venture with Wal-Mart and was managing director and CEO of Bharti Retail after the two companies decided to part ways.
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