Sears Holdings, Walgreens finance veteran lands CFO job at LivingSocial

WASHINGTON — LivingSocial, the local marketplace to buy and share the best things to do in your city and beyond, on Thursday announced the appointment of Sears and Walgreens veteran Atul Kavthekar as CFO. He will join the company in June, and will report to president and CEO Gautam Thakar.

 

“Atul is a seasoned finance leader with deep retail, ecommerce, corporate development and strategic experience, which will be a tremendous asset in shaping the refounding journey at LivingSocial,” said Thakar. “We are thrilled to have him join the team at this important stage of the business.”

 

Having started his career as an engineer, Kavthekar brings more than 20 years of experience in finance, banking and strategic business development. Prior to LivingSocial, he served as CFO and head of corporate development for Sears Holdings Corporation’s Health and Wellness Solutions business unit. In this position, he was responsible for overall financial management, corporate and business development, and strategic planning for the division.

 

Prior to Sears, Kavthekar was the CFO for Walgreens’ ecommerce division, where he oversaw the financial management and business development of the retailer’s rapidly growing, multi-billion dollar unit, including its mobile, tablet and website platform development. Also at Walgreens, he was a leader in mergers and acquisitions and strategic investing, including the company’s acquisition of drugstore.com. Kavthekar was responsible for the overall financial performance of walgreens.com, drugstore.com, beauty.com, skinstore.com and visiondirect.com, as well as additional venture capital investments.

 

Earlier, Kavthekar held senior investment banking positions at KPMG Corporate Finance, Trenwith Group and Morgan Stanley. In these roles, he led corporate development initiatives and transactions across multiple industries, sectors and countries.

 

Kavthekar has an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, a master’s degree in industrial engineering from Wayne State University and a bachelor’s degree in engineering from the University of Michigan.