Apparel Retailer Citi Trends Names Ex-Bed Bath & Beyond SVP Heather Plutino as CFO

Citi Trends, which is a specialty value retailer working on apparel, accessories and home trends for African American and Latinx families, has announced a new CFO in Heather Plutino, a press release says.

She’ll take office as of June 27, 2022.

Her past work experience includes other jobs such as working with Bed Bath & Beyond and Sally Beauty Holdings, the release says; she worked in finance-related positions at both.

“I am honored and excited to join the Citi Trends team. The potential for growth is significant given Citi Trends’ unique value proposition servicing the apparel, accessories and home needs of African American and Latinx families combined with the company’s talented and passionate team,” she said, per the release. “I look forward to partnering with David and the team to continue to enhance the financial and operational performance of this impressive brand.”

And according to David Makuen, CEO of Citi Trends, her experience makes her a “seasoned finance executive who will thrive in serving our core customers while leading our finance team to accomplish great things ahead.”

“Heather truly understands our purpose and values, and combined with her financial acumen, we are confident she will contribute to our long term strategic growth,” he said, adding that she would help out with transforming the company’s business model.

CFOs have had to adjust their work as of late, including lots more remote work as of the pandemic’s onset. There have also had to be more adjustments in terms of managing the finance team, instilling company values and maintaining camaraderie.

One such challenge was the need for access to information, which is why Brian Levin, CFO for Onbe, began holding weekly half-hour videoconferences for employees, which added more productivity, he said.

“You take the lemons and make lemonade out of it by communicating with them in ways that make them more efficient,” Levin said.

Paymentus CFO Matt Parson chimed in, too, saying that the more ways they can learn from digitization, the more things they can cut out of manual processes – allowing for faster responses overall.

Read more: Voices of the CFO: Managing a Remote Workforce