Zale Corp., on Thursday announced that William Acevedo has been named executive vice president, chief stores officer. He will be responsible for store operations for all of the company’s brands and will report directly to Neal Goldberg, president and chief executive officer.

“I have known William for 13 years and he is an outstanding leader with strong technical and managerial skills,” Goldberg said. “William has consistently improved the selling experience for customers in every organization he has been a part of. One of the principle components to our plan is focusing on the customer and improving the selling experience across all of our brands. I know William will bring passion and proven customer insight to help us achieve this goal.”

Acevedo is a retail veteran with more than 18 years of store operations and merchandising experience. Most recently, he served as vice president of Stores for Banana Republic. His responsibilities included managing all aspects of this $2 billion North American market with more than 440 store locations. Acevedo spent the first 13 years of his career at Macy’s, beginning as an executive trainee in 1989 and progressing to senior vice president, regional director of Stores. Acevedo is a graduate of Brown University.

The company also announced that Eric Christopher will join the company as vice president of Quality Assurance reporting to Gil Hollander, executive vice president, chief sourcing and supply chain officer. Christopher will play a critical role executing the company’s merchandising and sourcing initiatives.

As part of his 30-year career, Christopher has more than 16 years of retail experience sourcing product with a focus on quality assurance. He served the last 12 years as vice president of Quality Assurance and Corporate Ethics officer for QVC, Inc. Prior to QVC, Inc., he was responsible for quality at Nordstrom’s.

Zale Corp. Dallas, is a specialty retailer of fine jewelry in North America, operating throughout the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico in approximately 2,167 retail locations. Zale Corp.’s brands include Zales Jewelers, Zales Outlet, Gordon’s Jewelers, Peoples Jewellers, Mappins Jewellers and Piercing Pagoda. Zale also operates online at www.zales.com and www.gordonsjewelers.com.

JCK