Big Lots appoints Bruce Thorn as President and Chief Executive Officer

Big Lots, Inc. announced through a statement that Bruce K. Thorn has been named Chief Executive Officer and President of the company. Thorn joins from Tailored Brands, where he most recently served as the president and chief operating officer. The company said that following a transition period with Tailored Brands, Thorn is expected to be formally appointed as the CEO and President of Big Lots at the end of September, at which time he will also be appointed as a director to fill the place vacancy by David Campisi, who retired in April 2018.

"Bruce Thorn is a strong strategic thinker in addition to being an accomplished retail executive and operator. Bruce's combination of strategic vision, leadership skills and history of operational success impressed all of us. We believe that he will be able to build on the company's transformation into a community retailer while also nimbly navigating the rapidly changing and disrupted retail environment," said Cynthia T. Jamison, Chair of the nominating/ corporate governance committee and of the board's search committee in a statement.

Bruce Thorn to join Big Lots as President and CEO

Thorn joined Tailored Brands in 2015 as executive vice president and chief operating officer. In March 2017, he was named president and chief operating officer. Prior to joining Tailored Brands, Thorn held various enterprise level roles with PetSmart, Inc. since 2007, most recently as executive vice president, store operations, services and supply chain. Thorn has also worked in leadership positions with Gap, Inc., Cintas Corp, Lesco, Inc. and The United States Army.

"The entire board looks forward to welcoming Bruce to Big Lots and to his leadership. We are confident that Bruce's addition will make an already strong and well-established management team even better," added James R. Chambers, the company's non-executive Chair.