99 Cents Only Names Felicia Thornton CFO

Industry veteran Felicia Thornton, who most recently served with Demoulas Super Markets during the chain's months-long power upheaval last year, has been named CFO and treasurer of 99 Cents Only Stores, effective immediately.

Thornton will be responsible for overseeing finance, accounting, treasury, risk management, legal and IT functions for the company.

Her appointment is part of a broader operating advisor agreement with Ares Management, the company's majority shareholder. Interim CFO Michael Fung will continue in his position as a member of the company's board of directors and will return to his position as head of the board's audit committee.

Thornton most recently served as Demoulas' co-CEO, president and COO following its firing of CEO Arthur T. Demoulas and two other top executives in June of last year. She also served as CFO with Albertsons, where she led overall strategy for the company for more than five years, and served with Kroger for the prior eight years in a variety of executive strategic and financial roles.

"We believe [Thornton's] strategic financial experience and proven track record of leading finance functions during transformational change at large, multi-site retail organizations will be valuable to us as we work to continue to grow the company," said Geoff Covert, president/CEO of Commerce, Calif.-based 99 Cents Only Stores.

99 Cents Only Stores operates 389 extreme value stores in California and the Southwestern U.S.