Reen held those posts at Hills Stores Co. before resigning last July, when Dickstein Partners won control of Hills in a proxy battle. At Caldor, he succeeds Robert S. Schauman, who plans to leave the company.
Schauman is the second senior Caldor executive to announce his resignation this month. The first was Marc I. Balmuth, president of the 166-unit discounter since 1987, who said on Jan. 9 that he will leave the company when his contract expires in August. A search for a successor is under way.
At least 10 other key executives, including senior vice president of marketing Gary Vasques, left Caldor last year after it filed for Chapter 11 on Sept. 18, 1995. Vasques joined Kohl’s Corp. in the same position.
In December, Caldor had to withdraw a controversial $20 million executive retention bonus program because of complaints in bankruptcy court from the discounter’s equity committee. The committee said bonuses of up to 140 percent of base salary should have been tied to Caldor’s performance while in Chapter 11, but instead were payable if the executives simply remained with the chain throughout reorganization.
The company said Reen, who helped Hills emerge from bankruptcy in 1993, should be a “major contributor” to its reorganization plan.
Caldor has also promoted three senior vice presidents to executive vice presidents. They are Dennis M. Lee, human resources and merchandise distribution and replenishment; Elliott J. Kerbis, general merchandise manager for hardlines, and Kevin Freeman, stores.