Sears Promotes Hamblen to CMO

Sears Roebuck and Co. has promoted Don Hamblen to vice president, chief marketing officer. The appointment went into effect immediately.

Hamblen joined the retailer two years ago as vice president of marketing planning. He replaces Richard Gerstein, who was chief marketing officer, but was recently was tapped to oversee marketing for Sears Holdings Corp., the parent of Sears Roebuck and Kmart. Gerstein replaced Maureen McGuire, who left after three years on the job in August for personal reasons.

Prior to joining Sears, Hamblen was vice president of strategic marketing for Payless ShoeSource. He held previous marketing positions for Monsanto, Anchor Hocking, LensCrafters and Procter & Gamble.

In other news, Mark Snyder joined Sears Holdings as vice president and chief marketing officer of Kmart. He replaced Bill Stewart who left in June.

Both Snyder and Hamblen report to Gerstein.

Snyder brings more than 20 years of experience in hospitality branding, competitive market positioning, consumer experience development, advertising and promotional marketing. Before joining Sears Holdings, he was senior vice president of global brand management for Intercontinental Hotels Group’s Holiday Inn Family of Brands.

Previously, Snyder worked for Hilton Hotels Corp. as senior vice president of brand management for Embassy Suites Hotels and Harrah’s Entertainment, Inc. as vice president of brand management.

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