Kohl's Names New CEO -- Update
September 26 2017 - 12:08PM
Dow Jones News
By Suzanne Kapner and Austen Hufford
Kohl's Corp. said Michelle Gass, a former Starbucks Corp.
executive who joined the department store chain in 2013, will take
over as chief executive next year as it looks to navigate a
difficult retail landscape.
Kevin Mansell, Kohl's current CEO and chairman, will retire in
May. The company has been analyzing candidates over the past two
years to succeed Mr. Mansell, who has spent 35 years at Kohl's,
including the last nine as CEO.
The company's board intends to make one of its current
independent members chairman.
"We thought we'd be best served by announcing this today," Mr.
Mansell said in an interview Tuesday, adding that the move was
expected both internally and externally. Tomorrow, it's back to
work, he said. "We have a lot riding on our holiday results."
Ms. Gass, 49 years old, joined Kohl's in 2013 after serving
since 1996 at Starbucks, where her last role was running the
company's Europe, Middle East and Africa business. She was
initially Kohl's chief customer officer, which included managing
marketing and e-commerce. In 2015, she gained responsibility for
the company's merchandising, planning and product development.
Ms. Gass was a key driver of new partnerships with Under Armour
Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. She launched Kohl's new loyalty program
and helped develop cost-cutting measures that are expected to save
$250 million over three years.
"There are noticeable contributions that Michelle has made in
addition to proving herself as an incredible leader," Mr. Mansell
said.
Since Mr. Mansell joined Kohl's as a divisional merchandise
officer, the company has grown from a local Milwaukee-area retailer
with a dozen locations to a national chain with more than 1,100
stores that generates $19 billion of annual sales.
Kohl's also said another top executive, Chief Operating Officer
Sona Chawla, will become president. Ms. Chawla, 50, joined the
company in late 2015 from Walgreens where she was chief marketing
officer and ran e-commerce, setting up a succession race.
"We view both Ms. Gass and Ms. Chawla as strong internal
promotions, with deep expertise in the omnichannel strategies that
will be necessary to drive [Kohl's] next leg of growth," Jefferies
analyst Randal Konik said in a research note.
Shares in Kohl's, down 6.4% this year, fell 0.9% to $45.79 in
Tuesday trading.
Write to Suzanne Kapner at Suzanne.Kapner@wsj.com and Austen
Hufford at austen.hufford@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 26, 2017 11:53 ET (15:53 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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