Posts tagged as “J.C. Penney”

J. C. Penney on Monday named a Home Depot executive, Marvin Ellison, as president and as its next chief executive, tapping a seasoned retail hand as it struggles to assure investors that a nascent turnaround after two years of heavy losses will be lasting.
Mr. Ellison, currently executive vice president for stores at Home Depot, will join Penney on Nov. 1 and will also be a board member, the company said. He will succeed Myron E. Ullman III as chief executive on Aug. 1, 2015, when Mr. Ullman will become executive chairman for one year — a carefully coordinated handover that appeared to stress stability and continuity after a rocky succession at the retailer last year.
Penney’s losses have slowed under Mr. Ullman. But Mr. Ellison, 49, is now charged with expanding the retailer’s business — a tough task in a market under siege by “fast fashion” juggernauts like H&M and Forever 21 and online retailers, as well as reinvigorated rivals like Macy’s and T.J. Maxx.
Mr. Ellison’s background suggests he will start with the fundamentals. An operations expert who oversaw Home Depot’s 2,200 stores in the United States, Mr. Ellison led a largely successful bid to cut costs and raise store productivity at Home Depot, analysts noted. Before his 12-year tenure there, Mr. Ellison served for 15 years in various positions at Target.
“Over the course of his career, he has proven his ability to produce results by improving operations, building customer loyalty, and motivating his teams,” Mr. Ullman said of Mr. Ellison in a news release. For his part, Mr. Ellison said that Penney was “moving in the right direction” and that as chief executive he would focus “on positioning the company to compete in a rapidly changing retail environment.”
Penney has been trying to chart a growth path by undoing many of the changes introduced by its former chief, Ron Johnson, who was hired from Apple to try to inject pizazz into the 112-year-old Penney. When his turnaround bid — built on a strategy that stressed designer boutiques and fewer discounts — backfired, and saddled Penney with heavy losses, the company abruptly fired Mr. Johnson and brought back Mr. Ullman, who had led the chain from 2004 to 2011.