CMO SEARS-REFERENCE 2010

1. REFERENCE CHECK
Candidate: Barbara Armour Client: National Electronics Retailer
Reference Name: Ian Gomar
Current Company: Sears Holding Company Title: Chief Marketing Officer
Relationship to Candidate: See below
Checked By: Joanne Abernathy Date: September 22, 2010
Open End Comments:
Barb is my lead support person for all my on-line programs. My experience
with her has been terrific. She is by far the best person in this area. She has a
lot of experience and can get things done. I have found that most people don’t
deliver on promises. Barb does.
When Barb first joined us, I wanted to do an on-line marketing program that
involved sweepstakes, uploading videos, email targeting, etc. The program
grew in complexity. She came on board, got it done and did a great job. I don’t
know anyone in the company that could have gotten it done like she did. She
immediately commanded respect from me and the president of the business
unit. She had to deal with agencies, internal teams, new technologies and a
very complex program. She did it and did it well.
What I really respect about her are her leadership skills. A good example is the
program I just talked about. She jumped in and took a leadership role. She was
terrific in that regard. I usually take the lead, but she took over and I was very
glad she did. She has continued to do a great job on all her programs, including
development of the programs, analysis, presentations, weekly tracking, flagging
key issues and post mortem analysis.
I wish I could hire her into my marketing group, but we don’t have any on-line
marketing director roles. She is one of best in the building. She would be great
in any management position or director role.
I really hate to see her leave and would not want to lose her as a resource. I
understand she wants to move on and I support her for that. Sears is not an easy
place to work. We have a lot of hierarchy, it’s a big matrix organization, and

2. has a lot of road blocks. She can handle that part. But they are asking her to do
way too much. After she was hired, they implemented an “on call” program.
She is on call 180 hours per month. That means she literally has to sleep with
her blackberry and is called upon at any hour of the day or night. That is asking
too much for any person. One has to have some sort of work/life balance.
Barb is well respected here and is a tremendous asset to the company. She is
very, very good and I think highly of her. She is a true professional.
I would definitely hire her in my group. I know the president of our business
unit would say the same thing. When you deal with so many people in a
company our size, you see who is good and who is not. She is great!