Best Buy Marketing Chief Throws in the Towel

It became apparent on Thursday that Best Buy's

chief marketing officer, Barry Judge, has resigned from the electronics chain after one of the worst years in the company's history. Whether the decision is 100% Judge's own is unknown, but one would imagine that, for the past twelve months or more, there have been few more thankless job in retail than the CMO at Best Buy. Spokesman Greg Hitt is putting a brave face on the situation, saying that Judge is leaving the company "to explore the next chapter in his career." He added that, "Best Buy is taking advantage of the opportunity to leverage the skills and experiences of additional senior leaders." Judge will be succeeded, at least temporarily, by Stephen Gillett, currently head of Best Buy's digital and global business. Judge joined BBY in 1999 and played a big part in launching BestBuy.com. His resignation comes less than a month after the company's CEO also jumped ship. Again, there can be fewer stressful and unpleasant environments to work in retail than that of Best Buy. We can only start wondering who is going to be next.