Michael Witynski, 57, has been the CEO of Dollar Tree since July 2020 and has resigned. It happened after investor Mantle Ridge pushed for improvement to be made to its Family Dollar chain. His post will be replaced on January 29 by 69-year-old Richard Dreiling.
After serving as CEO of Dollar General from January 2008 to June 2015, Dreiling joined Dollar Tree as chairman last year in March. According to The U.S. Sun, Dreiling joined the company under an arrangement with Mantle Ridge, which requested that Dollar Tree replace its 11-member board of directors last year. Dollar Tree has expressed high expectations for Dreiling of his history of great success at Dollar General.
Joseph Feldman, Telsey Advisory Group analyst, said in an interview with Reuters, “The move comes as investors would like to see Dreiling have a more “day-to-day hands-on role at Dollar Tree.”
In a statement, Witynski said, “The opportunity to work with the talented and dedicated team at Dollar Tree has been the most rewarding of my career.”
Dreiling said upon joining as the company’s new CEO. “I am extremely excited about the opportunity to support Dollar Tree’s growth and leverage my decades of experience to advance and accelerate the company’s value-creation initiatives.” He also appreciated Witnyski’s work during his time at the company and the opportunity to work with him. He added: “We greatly appreciate Mike’s contribution over his career with Dollar Tree, which included the acquisition and integration of Family Dollar, navigating COVID, and contributing to the company’s current transformation strategy.”