First J. C. Penney lured Ron Johnson away from Apple. Now the company has announced that Michael W. Kramer, a former Apple exec, has been named chief operating officer, effective Dec. 5,.
In this role, Kramer will be responsible for Finance, Investor Relations, Corporate Strategy, and Information Technology. He’ll report to CEO Ron Johnson.
Kramer is a seasoned retail executive with nearly 20 years of executive leadership experience. Since 2008, he has been president and CEO of Kellwood Company, where he oversaw a portfolio of fashion brands, including Scotch & Soda, Vince, Rebecca Taylor, ADAM, BLK DNM, David Meister and XOXO and others.
Prior to that, he was executive vice president and chief financial officer at Abercrombie & Fitch. From 2000 to 2005, he was at Apple, where, as chief financial officer of Apple Retail, he worked directly under Johnson.
In June it was announced that 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. No replacement at Apple has been named.
— Dennis Sellers