New Round of Promotions at Dollar General

Shweta Bhatia, Dollar General's new SVP of technology engineering

The organizational chart at Dollar General is getting another update. Following the recent announcements that Jeffery Owen is succeeding retiring CEO Todd Vasos in November and current CFO John Garratt is taking over as president on Sept. 1, the discount retailer has shared other executive changes.

Several company leaders have been elevated to new roles:

Zak Brining has been promoted to SVP of corporate store operations, where he will continue overseeing store operations, workforce management, communication and compliance and store process improvement while adding responsibilities in store facilities management. He joined Dollar General in 2016.
Donny Lau, who came to Dollar General in 2017, has been promoted to SVP and chief strategy officer from his most recent position as VP, investor relations and corporate strategy. He will continue focusing on developing and evolving the retailer’s strategic vision and initiatives, implementing strategic partnerships and identifying long-term growth catalysts.
Jim Sullivan has been promoted to SVP of store operations, with responsibility for more than 8,000 locations across the northern half of the U.S. A Dollar General veteran since 2003, he joined as a regional director and held roles of increasing responsibility since then, including stints as a VP of two divisions. He will continue to provide training support for field leaders, elevating operations and merchandising acumen across the enterprise.
Rich Szellan has been promoted to SVP of procurement and margin improvement. With Dollar General since 2009, he was last promoted to VP of marketing and private brands in 2017. In his new role, Szellan will expand his role in driving profitability and procurement, including supplier diversity.
Dan Connow has been promoted to VP of store operations. He came onboard in 2017 as director of demand chain management and most recently worked as senior director of store operations. In his new role, he will be responsible for workforce management, labor planning and process improvement.
Kevin Walker has been promoted to VP of investor relations. He started with Dollar General in 2010 as a senior staff accountant and held roles of increasing responsibility, most recently as senior director of investor relations. Going forward, he will manage the company’s relationships with the investment community by helping communicate earnings, growth benchmarks and long-term strategy.

In addition to those promotions, Dollar General is welcoming several new leaders to its business:

Shweta Bhatia is taking on the role of SVP of technology engineering. Bhatia brings more than 20 years of retail, technology and leadership experience in solution delivery and transformational strategic initiatives to Dollar General’s IT team. In this role, she will lead the retailer’s technology product engineering plus technology and data engineering domains.
Maty Kiser has joined Dollar General as VP of end user support. She will leverage her three decades of experience in technology-related roles across multiple industries, including expertise in enterprise-level change management transforming how organizations work with a customer-first perspective. At Dollar General, she will lead the end user support services team that provides customer service support both internally and externally.
Matt Sikes is Dollar General’s new VP and chief compliance officer. With more than 20 years of experience in the retail and financial service sectors, he will work on building international compliance and protecting corporate brands to the retailer. He also will collaborate with multiple teams to ensure the company continues to incorporate compliance into its operations.

As Dollar General strengthens it leadership team, the company is faring well in today’s operating environment. Earlier this month, the retailer raised its full-year outlook and reported a strong second quarter, with higher-than-expected earnings per share and top- and bottom-line growth.

Goodlettsville, Tenn.-based Dollar General operated 18,356 stores in 47 states as of April 29. The company is No. 15 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2022 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America.