J.C. Penney Remakes Its Executive Suite—Again

J.C. Penney is once again shaking up its corporate offices, reassigning one veteran and bringing on a chief transformation officer.

Mike Robbins (pictured), executive vice president of private brands and supply chain, will now serve as executive vice president, chief stores and supply chain officer. He will oversee all stores, supply chain, and sourcing operations. He will also continue to oversee product design and development until the company finds a new chief merchant.

Robbins, formerly of Target Corp., first joined the company in 2015.

In addition, Truett Horne, currently an associate principal at McKinsey & Co., will join the company as chief transformation officer—an increasingly frequent title in today’s world. He will develop and implement Penney’s strategic and transformational initiatives.

Truett Horne
New chief transformation officer Truett Horne

The company is still seeking a chief merchant, a turnabout as it eliminated the position in 2017; a chief customer officer, to replace Joe McFarland, who left last summer; a senior vice president of planning; and a senior vice president of planning and allocation. It’s been looking for a chief financial officer since Jeff Davis left last October. The company says that the CFO search “is well underway.”

In addition, the company’s senior vice president, chief accounting officer and controller, Andrew Drexler, is leaving the company, so that role needs to be filled as well.

Chief marketing officer Marci Grebstein is also leaving, according to a report in Ad Age, after a little more than a year on the job.

CEO Jill Soltau is also relatively new. The former head of JoAnn Stores joined the department store in October.

Earlier this month, Penney announced disappointing holiday sales. Its comps over the holiday (defined as the nine-week period ending Jan. 5) decreased 3.5 percent on a shifted basis. On an unshifted basis, comparable sales decreased 5.4 percent. It also announced plans to close three stores.

(Images courtesy of J.C. Penney)

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