New CEO named at Dollar Tree

Published September 19, 2017 by Jessica Sabbath

Discount retailer Dollar Tree Inc. named a new CEO Monday as part of its planned leadership succession.

Gary Philbin, who had been the enterprise president at Dollar Tree, was promoted to president and CEO of the Chesapeake-based company and appointed to its board of directors.

Bob Sasser, 65, is now the executive chairman. Macon Brock, a co-founder of the company who had been chairman of the company, will remain on the board and become chairman emeritus.

Sasser, who has been president and CEO since 2004, joined Dollar Tree in 1999 as chief operating officer. He was promoted to president and chief operating officer in 2001.

During Sasser’s tenure, Dollar Tree has grown from a company with 18,000 employees; fewer than 1,200 stores and less than $1 billion in annual sales to a Fortune 150 company with nearly 180,000 employees and more than 14,500 stores. For 2017, revenues are projected to exceed $22 billion.

The company completed six acquisitions during Sasser’s tenure, including the $9.1 billion acquisition of Family Dollar Stores Inc. in 2015. Dollar Tree’s market capitalization has grown from approximately $2.3 billion to $19.8 billion during this time.

Philbin, 60, joined Dollar Tree in 2001 as senior vice president of stores. He was promoted to chief operating officer in 2007 and became president and chief operating officer in 2013.

In July 2015, Philbin assumed the role of president and chief operating officer of Family Dollar upon its acquisition by Dollar Tree. In January, he was promoted to enterprise president with responsibility for DollarTree and Family Dollar.