US footwear company Caleres has announced strategic changes to its organisational and leadership structure, which see Jay Schmidt named president, and Willis Hill appointed to lead the digital business acceleration team.

As president, Schmidt will assume responsibility for all of the consumer and brand strategy for Caleres’ entire portfolio, which includes Famous Footwear, Allen Edmonds, Dr Scholl’s, Naturalizer, Sam Edelman, and Vionic. He most recently served as division president, Caleres brand portfolio.

Hill, meanwhile, Caleres’ senior vice president and chief information officer, will lead the new digital acceleration team which has been formed to optimise resources, leverage Caleres’ capabilities and take full advantage of the significant growth in its e-commerce business, which has become an increasingly important part of Caleres’ business and a key focus area for the company.

Additionally, Caleres announced several other changes to the portfolio’s leadership structure, including the onboarding of Lydia Park Luis as president, brand portfolio-New York Group, and the promotion of Keith Duplain as president, brand portfolio-St. Louis Group.

Michael Edwards was also recently named president of Famous Footwear, leading Caleres’ largest brand.

Caleres said the transition combines the organisation’s operating divisions under a unified structure for growth, strengthening consumer engagement, expanding consumer insights, advancing brand goals and awareness, harnessing creativity, and furthering innovation.

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“At this point in Caleres’ evolution, it’s extremely important that we aggressively manage our business and that we position our strongest leaders to focus on our most important opportunities to advance growth initiatives across the portfolio,” said CEO Diane Sullivan.

Last month, Caleres said it will close all but two of its Naturalizer stores in North America by the end of fiscal year 2020 as part of its strategic realignment to drive digital growth.

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