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JCPenney has a new CEO.
JCPenney announced Tuesday that Jill Soltau, former CEO of Joann Stores, will take office on October 15th.
This distressed department store has been without a leader since May, when its former CEO, Marvin Ellison, resigned to head home improvement retailer Lowe's. Since then, JCPenney has been managed by a team of four executives while the board has looked for a replacement. In September, the retailer suffered a second blow after Chief Financial Officer Jeffrey Davis left the company.
While Ellison was credited with leading the company through a major turnaround after his predecessor, Ron Johnson, left the company overburdened with debt, analysts say Ellison left the ship at a crucial moment.
"The departure of Marvin Ellison from JCPenney could not have come at a worse time for the beleaguered department store chain.The turnaround program put in place by Ellison has partially succeeded, but it is still far from it. be finished, "said Neil Saunders of GlobalData Retail in a statement. note to clients at the time of his resignation.
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal in July, JCPenney President Ronald Tysoe said the board of directors' priority was to recruit an experienced CEO in the apparel industry.
On Tuesday, Paul J. Brown, director of JCPenney's board of directors and chairman of the company's research committee, congratulated Soltau on that.
"Jill was singled out from the beginning from an incredibly strong list of candidates, and while we were looking for the right person to lead this iconic company, we were looking for someone with rich clothing and merchandising experience, and we found that Jill was an ideal candidate, "Brown said of a statement.
JCPenney has also been criticized for being lost in the retail landscape and having alienated its main client, the middle-aged mother, trying to be everything for all people.
In a statement, Soltau said that this main client would likely be at the forefront of its strategy.
"JCPenney is an American brand par excellence with a solid and loyal customer base, and I could not be more proud to run such an iconic retailer," she said in a JCPenney press release. "I am passionate about the customer and have spent my entire career in the needs of a value – oriented consumer by researching, understanding and meeting their expectations for style, quality and quality." inspiration."
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