Retail
JCPenney
Jill Soltau, who joined J.C. Penney in 2018 as CEO, left the company at year’s end.
The company said while it is conducting an executive search, a temporary office of the CEO will be established and will include key members of Penney’s current leadership team.
J.C. Penney Co. Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy court protection in May. The original company remains in bankruptcy proceedings and is expected to exit Chapter 11 in the first half of 2021, with its first-lien creditor group owning what’s left of its assets.
Those assets include real estate holdings consisting of 160 company-owned store locations placed into one real estate investment trust (REIT) and six distribution centers placed into a second REIT. The retail and operating assets have been acquired by the retailer’s two largest landlords, Simon and Brookfield Asset Management.
The company said that Stanley Shashoua, Simon Property Group’s chief investment officer, will be named interim CEO, effective Jan. 1.
Soltau was previously CEO of Joann Stores and replaced Marvin Ellison, who left to join Lowe’s as its chief executive, as CEO of Penney’s.
Bath & Body Works
L Brands Inc. announced several key leadership appointments at Bath & Body Works.
Joining the business was Julie Rosen as president and Deon Riley as chief human resources officer. Rosen and Riley will report to Andrew Meslow, CEO of L Brands and Bath & Body Works.
In addition, Bath & Body Works announced a number of internal promotions. These include Chris Cramer promoted to chief operating officer; Danielle Demko, elevated to executive vice president and general manager of Bath & Body Works’ direct channel; George Arenschield promoted to executive vice president of merchandise, planning and allocation, and Ron Ford named EVP and head of stores and sales.
Rosen, whose scope of responsibility in the business includes merchandising and design, brings a merchant background and a breadth of leadership experience across merchandising, design, planning, production, marketing, stores and digital. She ran her own retail consulting business with clients including Nike, Theory and Bare Escentuals. Rosen started her career at Banana Republic and took on progressively larger roles within the merchant team for the brand and Gap and eventually became EVP for Banana Republic North America. After more than 20 years at Gap brands, she moved to Ascena in 2016, where her last role was president of Ann Taylor and Loft.
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Riley joins Bath & Body Works from Ross Stores, where she has spent the past eight years, most recently as the group senior vice president of HR, culture and diversity and inclusion, with responsibility across home office, stores, supply chain, distribution centers and technology, supporting more than 70,000 associates.
With L Brands for 19 years and the last 15 of those at Bath & Body Works, Cramer has held brand roles from chief financial officer to leading merchandise planning and allocation and, most recently, led Bath & Body Works’ direct business. Demko most recently was senior vice president of merchandise planning and allocation for body care.
With 26 years in the enterprise and the last 13 at Bath & Body Works, Arenschield is a home-grown leader with deep planning and allocation expertise, including having held the senior role in finance and planning for the online channel. Ford has held increasingly larger leadership roles in the Bath & Body Works stores organization for the past 17 years.
Logistics
DHL
DHL Freight announced two changes in its leadership team, effective Jan. 1, with Anabela Pires taking over as CEO for the Central Eastern, Southern Europe & Americas, Middle East and Africa (CESE & AMEA) regions and Dr. Thomas Vogel becoming the new CEO for DHL Freight’s Germany, Austria and Switzerland cluster.
With her appointment, Pires also joins the DHL Freight Management Board, of which Thomas Vogel, in his current role as chief operating officer, is already a member. Both will report directly to DHL Freight CEO Uwe Brinks.
Pires began her career at DHL Group in 2012 and took on the additional responsibility of managing Freight’s Maintal, Germany, terminal in 2014 before assuming her current role, in 2015, as area manager for Central DHL Freight Germany & Terminal Manager Maintal.
Pires’ predecessor, Stefano Arganese, will shift his focus to leading Freight’s E4U program in his new role as chief transformation officer. The digitation project, which also includes the development and rollout of the new transport management system EVO, is one of DHL Freight’s most important projects for the next several years.
Vogel succeeds Bernhard Wirth, who will retire at the end of the year.
IATA
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced that Kamil H. Al-Awadhi will be appointed IATA’s Regional Vice President for Africa and Middle East (AME), effective March 1.
Al-Awadhi succeeds Muhammad Albakri, who will become IATA’s senior vice president for customer, financial and digital services (CFDS), also effective March 1. Albakri replace Aleks Popovich, who is retiring.
Most recently, Al-Awadhi was CEO of Kuwait Airways, a responsibility he held from November 2018 through August 2020. Al-Awadhi will lead IATA’s activities across AME from its regional office in Amman, Jordan. He will report to IATA director general and CEO and join its strategic leadership team.
Footwear
Soles4Souls
Global nonprofit Soles4Souls announced that Andrew Gray, Foot Locker’s executive vice president and chief commercial officer, as the newest member of its board of directors.
Gray has been with Foot Locker Inc. since 2013. He leads the company’s efforts to elevate the customer experience across the globe.
Soles4Souls is a Nashville-based nonprofit that creates sustainable jobs and provides relief through the distribution of shoes and clothing around the world. With locations and warehouses across three continents, Soles4Souls has been able to distribute more than 40 million pairs of shoes in 129 countries since 2006.
Finance
TSG Consumer Partners
TSG Consumer Partners, a private equity firm, announced the promotions of Beth Pickens to managing director (London); Irena Blind to managing director, business development (New York); Adam Hemmer to principal (San Francisco), and Alec Fogarty and Lea Zhang to vice presidents (San Francisco).
TSG’s personnel promotions follow a year of significant investment and exit activity with both well-established and earlier-stage businesses and brands in consumer-facing industries.
Pickens joined TSG in 2019 in the firm’s London office after being managing director and head of European consumer banking at William Blair in London. Blind focuses on business development and originating new investment opportunities, having joined the firm in 2016.
Hemmer has been involved in the due diligence and structuring of new investment opportunities since joining the firm in 2015. Fogarty joined TSG in 2017 and has worked on the due diligence of new investments and supporting the growth of TSG’s partner companies. Zhang joined TSG in 2017 and is involved in the due diligence of new investments and working with partner companies.
TSG is an active investor in the food, beverage, restaurant, fitness, beauty, personal care, household, apparel and accessories, and e-commerce sectors.