The Vancouver-based subsidiary of Minnesota's Best Buy Co. Inc. (NYSE:BBY), Best Buy Canada, has promoted Mat Povse to be its new president following his 11 years with the company, it announced this morning.
Ron Wilson recently retired after 12 years as Best Buy Canada's president, and 34 years with the company, starting when it was known as Future Shop.
Best Buy entered Canada when it bought B.C. entrepreneur Hassan Khosrowshahi's Future Shop electronics chain for $580 million in cash in November 2001. For many years, it kept some stores branded Future Shop alongside others branded Best Buy.
Best Buy Canada has a habit of promoting longtime employees to be president.
Before Wilson, Mike Pratt was the company's president. He had spent more than 24 years at the company before he left in March 2013.
Povse had been senior vice-president of Best Buy Canada's retail division as well as its Geek Squad Services and Best Buy Business divisions. There, he and his team were responsible for hundreds of stores, thousands of employees and millions of customers.
His teams spearheaded transformative initiatives, such as introducing small-format stores and launching Best Buy Canada's membership and monthly subscription programs, according to the company. His teams also increased the company's wireless and home theatre business, and helped expand the major appliances division, it added.
The company said that its parent company's board conducted a rigorous headhunting process that also involved CEO Corie Barry and other executives.
