Over the past three years, he has led the growth of top-line sales by more than 17 per cent and EPS by 35 per cent through multiple growth initiatives. He has also been instrumental in increasing the company’s customer satisfaction and employee engagement scores to all-time highs despite massive organisational change in an unprecedented retail market, the company said in a press release.

Thorn attended The United States Military Academy at West Point where he studied mechanical engineering. After graduating, he served in Germany, Italy and Iraq. He holds a master’s degree in business from the University of Cincinnati and serves on the boards of Nationwide Children’s Hospital and the National Veterans Memorial and Museum.

Prior to Big Lots, Thorn was president and COO of Tailored Brands, a $3 billion brand portfolio company featuring leading menswear retailers: Men’s Wearhouse, Joseph A. Bank, Joseph Abboud and Moores. As president, he led the company’s retail stores, digital ecommerce, brand strategic planning and insights, information systems and global supply chain. He also gained extensive merchandising, marketing, store operations, supply chain and manufacturing experience in his roles as EVP of store operations, services and supply chain at PetSmart and chief operating officer of Lesco.

“Thorn has a proven track record of success in strong retail brands and will bring that expertise to our board. We value skill set diversity on our board and he has extensive and relevant experience across so many areas in retail that is relatable to what we do at Caleres. This combined with actively participating in the boardroom for more than two decades will be invaluable to us and our diverse portfolio of brands,” Diane Sullivan, chairman and CEO of Caleres, said in a statement.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (GK)