In June it was announced that Ron Johnson, Apple’s senior vice president of Apple retail and the mastermind behind Apple’s wildly successful retail strategy, had been named J.C. Penney’s new chief executive officer, and would be leaving Apple. And he’s gone.
Johnson has assumed assume the CEO position at J. C. Pennwill also join the J. C. Penney Board of Directors, effective Aug. 1. No replacement at Apple has been named.
Johnson, 52, has served for the past 11 years as senior vice president of retail at Apple., where he led its retail strategy, which from its start in 2001 now numbers over 300 stores in the U.S. and abroad. He joined Apple after 15 years at Target Corp., where he was a key merchandising executive.
“I’ve always dreamed of leading a major retail company as CEO, and I am thrilled to have the opportunity to help J. C. Penney re-imagine what I believe to be the single greatest opportunity in American retailing today, the department store,” Johnson said in June. “I have tremendous confidence in J. C. Penney’s future and look forward to working with Mike Ullman, the Executive Board and the Company’s 150,000 associates to transform the way America shops.”