Vitamin Shoppe populates board with heavy hitters from broadcast, retail industries

4/7/2017
SECAUCUS, N.J. — Vitamin Shoppe on Thursday announced that its board of directors voted to expand the size of the board to 12 directors and appointed the YES Network's Tracy Dolgin and former Pier 1 Import chief executive Alex Smith as members of the board of directors effective April 4, 2017.

"In an ongoing effort to ensure that our board has the skills and experience necessary to assist in setting long-term strategy and driving the company forward in an ever-evolving retail world, we are pleased to add two new talented executives to our board," stated John Bowlin, chairman, Vitamin Shoppe. "As we move forward with our reinvention, it is imperative the board have expanded and diverse industry expertise, including retail and technology leaders. I am thrilled to welcome Tracy and Alex to our board and look forward to working with them."

Under NYSE rules and the Vitamin Shoppe's corporate governance guidelines, both qualify as independent directors.

Both Dolgin and Smith will stand for re-election at the upcoming Annual Meeting of Shareholders.  At the same time, two longer term directors Catherine Buggeln and Richard Markee, will not stand for re-election.  As a result, immediately following the Annual Meeting of Shareholders, the board will return in size to 10 directors.

Dolgin has been associated with the YES Network since 2004 when he joined as president and CEO.  He was named non-executive chairman in 2016 and transitioned to board member in January 2017.  Prior to joining YES he was managing director and co-head of Houlihan Lokey's Media, Sports and Entertainment Practice.  From 1992 through 2003 he was employed at various Fox media properties, including as president, Fox Sports Net; COO, Fox Cable Networks; EVP, Fox Sports; and EVP marketing, Fox Broadcasting.  Prior to Fox, Tracy was SVP at HBO Video.

Smith most recently served as president and CEO of Pier 1 Imports, a specialty home furnishings retailer.  Prior to joining Pier 1, from 2001 to 2007, Smith served as group president of the TJX Companies where he oversaw the operations of Home Goods, Marshalls and TJ Maxx.  He was also instrumental in the development of the TK Maxx stores in the United Kingdom as well as running the company's international operations.  For the prior 20 years, he held positions of increasing responsibility at other retailers including; Lane Crawford, Owen Owen and Harvey Nichols in the U.K., Hong Kong and Singapore.

Both Dolgin and Smith will join fellow Vitamin Shoppe board member Tim Theriault, former chief information officer, Walgreens Boots Alliance, who joined the board one year ago.
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