New leaders appointed
Since American J.C. Penney is poised to reinvent itself and to revolutionise retailing and to become America’s favourite store, the company is hiring also a younger generation of managers to accomplish this pledge.
The newly named executives are: Benjamin Fay (40) became Executive Vice President (reporting directly to CEO Ron Johnson) for real estate, store design (actually more than 1100 sales points in the U.S.A. and Puerto Rico) and development and will direct all new jcp store of the future intended to create an entirely new electronic interface with stationary stores and will also be responsible for the implementation of the Shops(TM) strategy. Fay was formerly with Apple as senior director retail real estate, design and development and prior he worked at Gensler on the Apple account overseeing the standard design execution of Apple retail stores across the U.S.A.
Also Executive Vice President became John Singleton (51) with nearly 20 years of industry experience he assumes the position of chief supply chain officer, overseeing domestic and international transportation and distribution networks and he will direct the simplification of supply chain processes by driving quality and efficiency throughout the entire logistics operations. Singleton was formerly with Abercrombie & Fitch consultancy and before he served as senior vice president of logistics and trade at Ann Taylor Stores and held distributional positions with The Stanley Works, Circuit City Stores and The Stride Rite Corporation and retired as lieutenant colonel after 22 years of military service in the U.S. Air Force. He will report to Penney COO Mike Kramer.
There is also a promotion to Senior Vice President in communications for Kristin Hays (41) and she will oversee the company’s corporate and internal communication functions and also investor relations. Hays joined the company in 2002 as a litigation attorney and served recently as president of investor relations. She will report to Penney President Michael Francis.
Further additions are Laura Sandall as Vice President events marketing and publicity and Michelynn Woodard, Vice President philanthropy. Both ladies will report to Katheryn Burchett, Senior Vice President merchandising and marketing integration.