Shari Ballard

Title: Executive Vice President, Retail Channel Management

Shari Ballard is leading a charge to change the way Best Buy Co., Inc., a multinational retailer of technology and entertainment products and services, does business. She recognizes that the best insights to grow the company don’t come from big titles at the top of an organization chart and she wants every employee to have a chance to make their mark at Best Buy.
 
Spending the majority of her professional career at Best Buy, Ballard was hired in 1993 as an assistant store manager and was subsequently promoted to general manager at the Flint, Michigan, store.  In 1997, in partnership with store teams, she successfully implemented a new operating model across hundreds of Best Buy stores. Ballard then moved to human resources, accepting responsibility for the retail stores human resources group. In 2004, she earned the role of executive vice president of human resources and legal, and in 2006, her role grew to include oversight of the U.S. websites and call centers.
 
In 2007, Ballard’s executive vice president role further expanded to include oversight of the U.S. entertainment operating group. As the executive vice president of entertainment, multichannel and human capital, Ballard’s passion for winning and belief in her team were central to the company’s significant decrease in employee turnover and increase in employee engagement. In her current role, Ballard has responsibility for the 900-plus Best Buy stores in the United States, including territory, district staff and store personnel, as well as the customer research and development, dot com and call center groups.
 
Ballard graduated with a bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan – Flint.