JCP J C Penney Company Inc

By Maria Armental 

Troubled retailer J.C. Penney & Co. has appointed Jill Soltau as its next chief executive, succeeding Marvin Ellison, who left the firm in June for Lowe's Cos.

The 51-year-old retail veteran, will join Penney on Oct. 15 from Joann Stores, where she had been the CEO and president since March 2015.

Her appointment comes a week after Penney announced its finance chief, Jeffrey Davis, left the firm Monday. With its CEO in place, Penney is now focusing on the CFO search and will hire an outside firm to help identify a candidate, a company spokeswoman said Tuesday.

The Plano, Texas, company has closed stores and cut jobs, but sales have sputtered and its once-iconic stature has diminished as losses have piled up.

In the year ended Feb. 3, Penney swung to a $116 million loss and reported $12.51 billion in sales. For the first half of the current fiscal year, the company has lost $179 million and sales are down 6% from a year earlier to $5.35 billion.

During her tenure at Joann Stores, Ms. Soltau helped to revitalize branding, refresh the company's merchandising strategy and expand its digital capabilities, the closely held fabric and crafts retailer said Tuesday. Before joining Joann Stores, Ms. Soltau worked for five years at ShopKo, where she rose to president. She also held senior level positions at Sears Holdings and Kohl's after starting her career with Carson Pirie Scott, Penney said.

"As we looked for the right person to lead this iconic company, we wanted someone with rich apparel and merchandising experience and found Jill to be an ideal fit," said Paul J. Brown, Penney director and chairman of the CEO search committee, in a statement.

Ms. Soltau, who will be relocating to Texas, will receive a one-time cash signing bonus of $6 million, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Her base salary was set at $1.4 million a year.

Joann Stores, which had announced Ms. Soltau's resignation earlier Tuesday, said Chief Financial Officer Wade Miquelon will temporarily add duties as company CEO and president.

Penney shares, which lag the market having lost more than half of their value this year 51% decline, rose 10% to $1.72 in after-hours trading.

Suzanne Kapner contributed to this article.

Write to Maria Armental at maria.armental@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 02, 2018 18:38 ET (22:38 GMT)

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