Qurate Retail Group, the parent of QVC and HSN, announced a transition of its chief financial officer and the hiring of a chief transformation officer.
Jeffrey A. Davis, CFO, resigned from the company and is expected to remain for a transition period.
Qurate Retail Group named James Hathaway as interim CFO. He joined the company in May 2021 as senior vice president, leading finance for the company’s largest reporting unit, QxH, and serving as CFO for QVC U.S. and HSN.
Before joining Qurate Retail Group, Hathaway worked for 20 years with PepsiCo/Frito-Lay, where he took on increasing responsibility in financial leadership roles, including, most recently, as vice president, Financial Planning & Analysis, with full P&L accountability for a multibillion-dollar division of Frito-Lay North America and before that, various divisional and business unit CFO roles within Frito-Lay’s U.S. operations.
“Since joining us last year, Jim has demonstrated strong, hands-on leadership skills and the ability to leverage his financial and business acumen to drive focus and alignment across our flagship video commerce businesses in the U.S.,” said David L. Rawlinson, II, president and CEO. “Jim is passionate about growing effective teams, transforming culture and inspiring accountability, which I have seen first-hand since I joined the organization. He has the sense of urgency and results orientation we need now as we launch Project Athens, our transformation program.”
“I want to thank Jeff for his efforts and his many contributions to the company over the past four years, including helping to establish a global finance function that provides integrated, holistic and strategic support to all of our Qurate Retail Group brands and business units,” continued Rawlinson. “We wish him well.”
Separately, Qurate Retail Group also announced the creation of a chief transformation officer role to accelerate the implementation of Project Athens.
In June 2022, the company introduced Project Athens, a three-year plan to stabilize revenue, expand adjusted OIBDA margin and generate incremental free cash flow. As part of that process, William Hunter was promoted to chief transformation officer from senior vice president, Business Transformation & Shared Services, to lead the process. In his most recent role, he led various key implementations, including a harmonized payroll platform for QVC and HSN. Before the formation of Qurate Retail Group, Hunter was senior vice president, Corporate Controller for HSN, where he led financial and operational accounting for the organization.
“We are accelerating the pace of change at Qurate Retail, and Bill has consistently demonstrated his ability to lead initiatives that are important to our near- and long-term success,” said Rawlinson. “Project Athens is the combination of five key pillars spanning nearly every facet of our business. Bill’s deep institutional knowledge of our core processes and his experience in global business transformation will be instrumental to successfully executing this strategy.”
Rawlinson concluded, “Bill and Jim are both hands-on, high-energy leaders who are committed to driving change, exactly the qualities we need as we look to execute Project Athens successfully. I look forward to working closely with them.”
