JCPenney Appoints New Chief Financial Officer

JCPenney appointed Stephanie Plaines as the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of the company. She comes with experience in both real estate and retail and will be responsible for all financial activities across the enterprise.

Stephanie Plaines most recently worked at Jones Lang LaSalleJLL
, a leading global commercial real estate services company. Overall, in the course of her more than 20-year career, she served in retail as a senior executive at StarbucksSBUX
, WalmarWMT
t, and Ahold Delhaize. She currently serves as board director and audit committee member for Nielson Holding plc and the CloroxCLX
Company. Plaines earned a bachelor’s degree in finance from the University of Florida and a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Texas in Austin.

Marc Rosen, CEO of JCPenney, said, “JCPenney is investing for the long term while executing our customer-focused strategy to enhance shopping experiences and build brand loyalty. Stephanie brings more than 20 years of high-performance strategic and financial leadership with best in-class global retailers.”

While it took longer for a chief financial to be appointed than initially hoped, the process of rebuilding the JCPenney team is now nearing completion. Plaines replaced interim CFO Brian Cashman; he will support Stephanie through August. The company was taken out of bankruptcy by Simon Property GroupSPG
and Brookfield Asset Management in December of 2020. Mark Rosen, a former Levi Strauss and Walmart executive., was appointed CEO in October 2021 and John Aylward was chosen as chief marketing officer of the company in May 2022.

Today there are about 660 JCPenney stores in operation as well as six distribution centers. 160 stores were taken over by first-lien secured lenders, many of whom also supplied debtor-in possession financing. They took over the property business that included 160 real estate locations and 6 distribution centers.

POSTSCRIPT: JCPenney today is a smaller, privately held company and operating well in the current environment with its new leadership. We now look for new brands to bring customers back to shop. The loyalty of customers can be retained with a strong loyalty program. 2023 will be a vital year for the company.