New Saks exec has big plans

Joel Ellzey, recently named general manager of Saks Fifth Avenue Sarasota, faces two acute challenges in his new position: He's tasked with building on the success of one store while simultaneously planning the opening of another store.

The current store is the Saks at the Westfield Southgate Mall, south of downtown Sarasota. The planned new store is a potential anchor at the Mall at University Town Center, a $315 million project currently under construction in northern Sarasota County. That mall, and Saks, is scheduled to open in October 2014.

A 24-year veteran of Saks and Proffitt's, a chain that merged with Saks' parent entity in 1998, Ellzey says he will treat the new gig with daily fervor. Ellzey ran the Saks at the WestShore Plaza in Tampa for a year before moving to Sarasota in early March. He worked in Atlanta for the chain for 20 years before Tampa.