WOONSOCKET, R.I. — CVS Health executive Helena Foulkes is leaving the company to become CEO of the Canadian retail company that owns the Saks Fifth Avenue and Lord & Taylor department store chains.
WOONSOCKET, R.I. — CVS Health executive Helena Foulkes is leaving the company to become CEO of the Canadian retail company that owns the Saks Fifth Avenue and Lord & Taylor department store chains.
Foulkes, executive vice president of CVS Health and president of CVS Pharmacy, has been hired as CEO of Hudson's Bay Company, effective Feb. 19, and will take a seat on the company's board of directors, Hudson's Bay announced in a news release Monday morning.
"Helena is a transformational leader who will invigorate the business with a new perspective as we position HBC for the future," Richard Baker, HBC's acting CEO, said in the news release. "Throughout her 25-year tenure in retail, she has a proven track record of making bold, strategic choices that, at their core, put the customer first and have proven enormously impactful to business success. The Board and I are thrilled to have Helena take the helm and bring her invaluable experience to the company."
A Rhode Island native with a Harvard economics degree, Foulkes joined CVS in 1992 after jobs with Goldman Sachs and Tiffany & Co., and was tapped to lead the Woonsocket-based company's pharmacy business in 2014. She's made Fortune's Most Powerful Women in Business list and last year came in at number 12.
Foulkes was chief of strategy and government affairs at CVS before taking over the retail business and was at the center of the company's well-received decision to stop selling cigarettes.
When Lincoln Chafee became governor in 2011, he named Foulkes, his former transition chair, to the top spot on the state's Economic Development Corporation Board of Directors. She resigned in 2012, citing philosophical differences with Chafee in the aftermath of the 38 Studios' collapse. (She was not on the EDC board when it approved the 38 Studios loan guarantee.)
Since 2009, Foulkes has donated $6,500 to Gov. Gina Raimondo's campaign.
Foulkes is the daughter of businessman Bernard Buonanno Jr., chairman of the Rhode Island Convention Center board.
Founded in 1670, Hudson's Bay describes itself as the oldest company in North America and had $14.5 million (Canadian) in 2016 revenue. It has more than 66,000 employees worldwide and more than 480 stores, plus e-commerce platforms.
CVS had $177 billion in 2016 revenue.
— panderson@providencejournal.com
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