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DELRAY BEACH, FLA. - When it comes to significant developments at Office Depot, forget about the proxy battle that will come to a head later this month at the company's shareholders meeting. Chairman and ceo Steve Odland and former ceo David Fuente are facing the possible loss of their board seats if enough shareholders side with a dissident investor seeking to install two former office products industry executives.
The prospect of that happening is considered remote, but the ongoing debate between Office Depot and shareholder Levitt Corp. has served as a distraction from a more recent development of potentially more significance.
In late March, as Office Depot and Levitt were trading barbs in filings with the securities and Exchange Commission, Office Depot added the name of Steve Mahurin next to the title of evp of merchandising as part of an updated presentation posted on the investor relations section of the company's Web site. There was no glowing press release touting his credentials, as is often the case when retailers fill high-level merchandising roles, but Retailing Today confirmed that he previously spent four years at True Value where he was highly regarded as the company's senior vp and chief merchandising officer. Prior to that, Mahurin spent 13 years with The Home Depot where he enjoyed a noteworthy career beginning as an assistant store manager and rising to the position of senior vp of merchandising.
At Office Depot, Mahurin will...