Kmart names hotel exec Snyder chief marketer  

By Staff -- Home Textiles Today, 9/17/2008 2:33:00 PM

Hoffman Estates, Ill. – Mass merchandiser Kmart has recruited Mark Snyder from Holiday Inn as the new chief marketing officer at the 1,300-store retailer, a division of Sears Holdings.

Snyder was svp of global brand management for the Holiday Inn family of brands, owned by Intercontinental Hotels Group. He previously worked in marketing at Hilton Hotels and Harrah's Entertainment.

Snyder reports, effective today, to Richard Gerstein, svp marketing, Sears Holdings. Gerstein himself was named to the top corporate marketing post only in the past several weeks, following the Aug. 29 departure of Maureen McGuire from that post. McGuire had taken on the then-newly created cmo job in October 2005, reporting directly to Sears Holdings chairman Edward Lampert.

Gerstein, a health and beauty consumer goods marketing executive with a stint at Procter & Gamble, joined the company as Sears cmo in August 2007. That spot is now open; the company said it is seeking a successor. Gerstein chose Snyder for the Kmart position, the company confirmed.