Darrington Adds COO Role at Tops

WILLAMSVILLE, N.Y. — Tops Friendly Markets here said it has given Kevin Darrington, currently chief financial officer, the additional role of chief operating officer. The company said Darrington, who joined Tops in 2008, would continue as CFO while taking on his new responsibilities. “He played a vital part in transitioning our company back to local management and, most recently, was instrumental in facilitating the purchase of a majority of Penn Traffic's assets,” said Frank Curci, president and chief executive officer, Tops, in a prepared statement. Prior to joining Tops, Darrington was senior vice president and chief accounting officer for Pathmark Stores, now owned by Montvale, N.J.-based A&P. Separately, Tops unveiled five more store closings: one P&C Foods location each in Ithaca and Cortland, N.Y.; another in White River, Vt.; and two Quality Markets in Lakewood, N.Y., and Erie, Pa. Closings are scheduled for April 18.

WESTON APPOINTS BINNING AS CFO

TORONTO — George Weston Ltd., parent company of the Loblaw Cos. grocery chain, last week said it had appointed Pavi Binning as its new chief financial officer, effective Aug. 16. Binning will succeed Bob Vaux, who is stepping down from CFO duties as part of a planned transition to retirement at the end of 2011. Until then, Vaux will continue as executive vice president, corporate development. Binning has been a member of the board of directors at George Weston for the last year and has extensive international management experience, most recently as executive vice president and chief financial officer of Nortel Networks. He has also served in senior executive roles at Hanson, Marconi Corp. and Diageo.

DOLLAR GENERAL PROMOTES TWO

GOODLETTSVILLE, Tenn. — Dollar General Corp. last week said it promoted two senior executives: John Flanigan was named executive vice president of global supply chain, and Bob Ravener was named executive vice president and chief people officer. Ravener was previously Dollar General's senior vice president and chief people officer. Flanigan was senior vice president of global logistics. Both executives have been with the company since 2008. Flanigan joined Dollar General from Longs Drug Stores, and Flanigan had been with Starbucks before joining Dollar General. (See Page 4 for more on Dollar General.)