Walgreen Co. has appointed a new leader for its key Customer-Centric Retailing initiative and made other executive moves in Internet merchandising.

The drug store chain said that Mike Arnoult has been named as vice president of Customer-Centric Retailing (CCR), the company's broad effort — ranging from merchandising to operations and supply chain — to optimize its vast store network. He formerly was vice president of online merchandising.

DEERFIELD, Ill. — Walgreen Co. has appointed a new leader for its key Customer-Centric Retailing initiative and made other executive moves in online merchandising.

The drug store chain said this week that Mike Arnoult has been named as vice president of Customer-Centric Retailing (CCR), the company’s broad effort — ranging from merchandising to operations and supply chain — to optimize its vast store network.

Arnoult will oversee the continued rollout of the CCR merchandising format, which is expected to be in nearly 3,000 stores by the end of fall 2010. He reports to Bryan Pugh, vice president of merchandising.

For the past year, Arnoult was vice president of online merchandising. Before that, he spent 19 years in store operations, serving in various management roles as store manager, district manager and store operations vice president. Arnoult’s knowledge and experiences will allow him to continue the successful rollout of the CCR format, according to the company, which cited his ability to build relationships and collaborate across the organization.

Walgreens has also promoted Miguel Almeida to divisional vice president of online merchandising. He continues to hold his previous duties for multichannel operations and reports to Sona Chawla, senior vice president of e-commerce.

Almeida joined Walgreens in March as a director of online operations. He had previously held similar roles at Apple and Dell and has worked with Boston Consulting Group.

In addition, Jasbir Patel has been promoted to director and general merchandise manager of online photo, reporting to Chawla.

Patel has been with Walgreens for 21 years, starting in the stores and moving up through the ranks. He joined the chain’s e-commerce group in 2000, holding various merchandising roles, and he is credited with being instrumental in developing Walgreens’ online photo business in recent years.