Bull Moose has a new president and CEO after its founder, Brett Wickard, handed over the reins following a 33-year stint with the company.

Shawn Nichols is the new president of the popular, employee-owned New England retail chain. According to a statement, Wickard, who founded Bull Moose in 1989 as an independent music outlet while still a student at Bowdoin College, will remain chairman of the board and focus on FieldStack, a retail management software company he founded in 2014.

“It has been an honor of a lifetime to establish and grow Bull Moose to where it is today,” Wickard said. “I was barely 20 years old when I started selling tapes and CDs with a larger vision to support and cultivate Maine musicians and artists. What exists today is beyond my wildest dreams. Bull Moose is in great hands and many great things are to come.”

A lifelong Mainer, Nichols joined the company in February 2021 as vice president of operations. Previously, he worked for national retailers such as Staples and Starbucks, and most recently worked for Goodwill as director of retail operations.