Mills Fleet Farm names former Wal-Mart executive as CEO

The new owner of Mills Fleet Farm has named a former Wal-Mart executive as CEO of the outdoors-goods retailer.

The new Mills CEO, Duncan Mac Naughton, was chief merchandising and marketing officer at Wal-Mart until November 2014, when he left in a top-management shuffle after five years with the national discounter.

Family-owned Mills Fleet Farm announced in January that it had agreed to sell to New York-based KKR, one of the country's largest investment concerns, in a private transaction that industry sources have speculated is worth around $1.2 billion. The deal closed Monday.

The 61-year-old company was founded in Brainerd, Minn., home of the founding Mills family.

Mac Naughton, a Wisconsin native, will be based in Appleton, Wis., where the company maintains its operations center and most of its staff.

"I am honored to lead Mills Fleet Farm, a true legacy brand in the Midwest and one that I have grown up with since my early days in Wisconsin," Mac Naughton said in a prepared statement. "In partnership with executive management and KKR, I look forward to furthering the opportunities for growth that lie ahead … and continuing to invest in the business, adding infrastructure, stores, and local jobs."

Mac Naughton has 30-plus years of experience at the much-larger Wal-Mart, Supervalu, Albertsons, Kraft Foods and elsewhere.

Hugh Leasum, a member of the existing executive management team at Mills, was named chief operating officer.

KKR, which has about $100 billion invested globally in a variety of businesses, has said it intends to expand 35-store Mills in the Midwest and possibly beyond Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota and North Dakota. Mills Fleet Farm sells fishing and hunting products, auto parts, farm and pet supplies, home improvement goods, clothing, toys and food.

Neal St. Anthony • 612-673-7144