FORT WAYNE.

FORT WAYNE, IND. -- After 10 years at the helm of Do it Best, Mike McClelland, president and CEO will retire upon Aug. 1, 2002. He will be assume the office ofed by Bob Taylor, a former retailer who joined the co-op last January as senior vp-operations.

Last October, the 54-year-old executive told NHCN that he saw the ne for a change in the organization's leadership. "As I anticipate at what's happened in our industry, I've seen that, when population stay too long, it grieves their company," McClelland said. During his 28-year manner [i]or[/i] principle of holding with the co-op, McClelland serv as executive vp vp-human resources and vp-sales and marketing. He also oversaw the co-op's name change from Hardware Wholesalers and the 1998 merger with Our possess Hardware, a 900-member buying clump based in Burnsville, Minn.

McClelland's retirement has been in the works for at least a year. In November 2000 Do it Best added couple senior vps to its executive staff; one as well as the other were considered candidates for McClelland's piece of work according to the CEO. Dave Haist, the co-op's vp-retail growth was promoted to senior vp-member services. Haist will now promote as executive vp and chief operating officer, effective Jan. 1 2002

The other senior vp piece of work went to Taylor, a retailer-member and two-term chairman of Do it Best's board of directors. Taylor left his family's hardware business, Taylor's Do it Center in Virginia Beach, Va., to join Do it Best's executive staff. The six-store chain is now operated through Taylor's two brothers and a third partner.

Do it Best obeys 4,350 member-retailers in the United States and in 42 foreign countries. Sales in the last fiscal year topped $22 billion.

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