Ex-Michigan AD Dave Brandon becomes CEO of Toys 'R' Us

Dave Brandon, who resigned last year as University of Michigan athletic director, will become the new chairman and CEO of Toys 'R' Us, catapulting him back into the ranks of national corporate retail leadership.

Brandon, who resigned as the CEO of Ann Arbor Township-based Domino's Pizza in 2010 to join U-M, succeeds the retiring CEO of Toys 'R' Us, Antonio Urcelay.

Partial Toys 'R' Us owner and private equity firm Bain Capital — which owned Domino's for a time under Brandon's tenure before the company went public — played an instrumental role in hiring Brandon for the new gig, according to a source familiar with the matter who was not authorized to speak publicly on the decision.

After a rocky tenure at U-M — during which he improved the Wolverines' financial position but ultimately faltered in the wake of the football team's poor performance and under pressure from alumni and donors — Brandon's return to the business world was expected.

Still, he had a choice to make: Embrace a new role in the business world or, perhaps, pivot toward conservative politics, where he long has held an interest and once was viewed as a potential candidate for governor.

As CEO of Domino's, he guided the nation's No. 2 pizza brand toward a global-expansion strategy, led an initial public offering, placed bets on innovative marketing strategies and ordered a successful overhaul of the company's once-derided pizza recipe.

But the pizza chain's tremendous surge in recent years occurred primarily after Brandon departed as CEO, though he remains chairman.

At Toys 'R' Us, he joins a brand with widespread name recognition but entrenched business challenges — namely, the Internet.

His predecessor, Urcelay, had laid out a strategy to slow the company's sales decline while improving its profit margins. Sales at U.S. stores open for at least a year fell 1% in 2014.

The company posted a net loss of $292 million in 2014, down from more than $1 billion a year earlier, but it did earn an operating profit of $191 million.

His appointment comes amid speculation that the Toys 'R' Us ownership group, including Bain, is positioning the chain for an eventual IPO.

A Toys 'R' Us spokeswoman declined to make Brandon available for comment.

"I consider it a tremendous privilege to assume this important leadership role at Toys 'R' Us, one of the most well-known retail brands in the world," Brandon said in a statement. "I believe our best days are ahead of us, and I'm eager to get started."

Brandon will remain chairman of Domino's, which is now led by CEO Patrick Doyle.

"We're thrilled for Dave on this new appointment, and we're equally happy that he will be remaining as our chairman of the board," Domino's spokesman Tim McIntyre told the Free Press in an email. "He's got the experience to take great brands to even higher levels of success, and we're confident he will be able to do the same for the iconic Toys 'R' Us brand."

Brandon was set to receive $3 million over four years in incremental payments as a settlement negotiated in his departure from U-M. The university may not be required to make all those payments because of Brandon's new job, which will almost certainly pay substantially more than his athletics job.

"We wish David Brandon nothing but the best," U-M spokesman Rick Fitzgerald said in an email.

Contact Nathan Bomey: 313-223-4743 or nbomey@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @NathanBomey.