As part of a business realignment, Qurate Retail Group announced it promoted finance chief Bill Wafford to the expanded role of chief administrative officer and CFO, and chief people officer Linda Aiello is leaving the company.
Wafford now also oversees the Qurate transformation office, focused on embedding best practices to support the company’s turnaround and growth. He also supervises the global people function, which includes compensation and benefits, payroll, talent acquisition and people and organizational effectiveness, the company noted. Wafford continues to report to David Rawlinson, Qurate Retail president and CEO.
The changes come after chief people officer Aiello decided to depart Qurate Retail for a new opportunity, the company indicated. Bill Hunter remains chief transformation officer, reporting to Wafford. Aiello will remain with Qurate through April to support the executive transition. A formal search for a people leader who will report to Wafford has begun, according to Qurate.
Rawlinson said time and circumstances were right to reorganize the functions affected by the executive moves.
“In the third and fourth quarters of 2023, we reached an inflection point in our turnaround, demonstrated by consecutive growth in adjusted OIBDA and free cash flow,” Rawlinson said. “As we continue to build on this progress in 2024, it is time to reorganize parts of the business to align. Bringing finance, transformation and people together under Bill allows the teams to work more closely as we evolve the way we operate while staying vigilant in how we manage spend and maintain rigor, discipline and agility. Bill’s financial strategy leadership, experience in business transformation and strong cross-functional relationships make him well positioned to lead in this new structure.”
