JCPenney Adds Strong New Staff

Much is happening at JCPenney
JCP
that is exciting and shows that people believe that the company has new growth potential. Last November, Marc Rosen was appointed chief executive officer of the company after serving at Levi Strauss
LEVI
as executive vice president and president of Levi Strauss America. He has already shown the ability to bring new talent and new excitement to JCPenney.

·      Sharmeelee Bala has been appointed chief information officer (CIO). She will be responsible for the information technology (IT) organization and global technology systems that power the company’s stores, operational centers and supply chain, and corporate functions. Bala will lead development of solutions to unite JCPenney’s physical assets with its evolving digital footprint.

Sharmeelee joins JCPenney from Gap
GPS
Inc. where she held leadership positions since 2018 and most recently served as the head of product engineering. Prior to the Gap, she spent 20 years with Walmart
WMT
in a number of technology and executive roles. She earned a master’s degree in engineering technology from BITS Pilani in India.

·      Katie Mullen has been appointed JCPenney’s chief digital and transformation officer (CDO). Mullen will lead the growth of the e-commerce business, including JCPenny.com. JCPenney plans to reimagine the consumer experience – in terms of where and how to shop. Mullen will also be responsible for driving enterprise strategy under JCPenney’s transformation agenda.

Katie most recently spent three years with the Neiman Marcus Group as chief transformation officer and then digital officer. Previously, she was a partner and managing director of the Boston Consulting Group. Mullen has a bachelor’s degree from Princeton University and a Master of Business Administration degree from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

The appointments show that CEO Marc Rosen is able to attract seasoned talent to boost JCPenney’s ability to serve its target customer. The company has more than 650 stores and has over 50,000 co-workers that focus on apparel, home, jewelry, and beauty merchandise. It has a wide assortment of national brands as well as renown private labels.

The company also announced two major merchandise initiatives.

·      Sports Illustrated. The company launched ‘Sports Illustrated for JCPenney’ that will feature lifestyle apparel for women, men, and children exclusively designed for JCPenney. The first collection was in stores on January 6,2022 and offers an assortment of versatile activewear. It includes stretch woven fabrics, centurion perforated mesh, softened scuba fleece, cottons and more. For women, it will come in size ranges from small to extra-large and the men sizes will also include tall. Boys’ sizes are from 4 to 30, girls from 4-16. This Sports Illustrated collection will be available year-round.

·      Forever 21. A new lifestyle collection (resurrecting the brand name of former retailer) for men, women, and kids was introduced as part of a broader Sports Illustrated for JCPenney initiative on January 6. While all JCPenney stores will carry women and men at launch, Forever 21 plus sizes will only be in about 300 stores.

The merchandise initiatives by Marc Rosen and Michelle Wlazlo, EVP,  are impressive, and one can now expect a faster turn-around of the company. The strong operational team headed by Sharmeelee Bala and Katie Mullen speaks well of the development at JCPenney.

POSTSCRIPT: Some brands disappear when they close their doors. Forever 21 had a strong, loyal customer following and new reappears in JCPenney. It is likely to be very successful and will bring new, young customers to the stores. I think we are seeing the first steps of a turnaround of the 119-year-old company.