Longtime Macy’s Inc. CEO and chairman Terry Lundgren is handing off the torch.
During the first quarter of 2017, Jeff Gennette, Macy’s Inc. president since 2014, will assume the role of CEO. He will also keep his current title and was appointed to the Macy’s board. Lundgren will transition to executive chairman with the company and work “side by side” with Gennette, according to a release by the company Thursday morning.
Gennette’s new role will include several new duties, including Macy’s store operations.
“I have been honored to lead this enterprise through a period of unprecedented reinvention,” Lundgren said. “While our company is larger, stronger and more resourceful than we were 13 years ago, now is the time to reset our business model to thrive in a future that is being driven by rapid evolution in consumer preferences and shopping habits. Our company must and will change in response to the profound secular forces that are driving consumer spending. I am firmly committed to, and invigorated by, the process we have begun to set a going-forward strategy in lockstep with our evolving customers.”
Gennette joined Macy’s in 1983 at Macy’s West. He moved up the company’s corporate ladder, eventually serving in executive roles for the store’s Central U.S., West Coast and Northwest operations. He was named Macy’s chief merchandising officer in 2009. Prior to Macy’s, he held roles at FAO Schwartz and Broadway Stores.
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“This is the time for us to be laser-focused on what is most important to our customers, and how we can best deliver the shopping experience that will secure our position as the premier omnichannel retailer of the future,” Gennette said. “We have successfully navigated our way through changing customer trends in the past, and there is no doubt that Macy’s Inc. will need to be a significantly different retailer in the future in the way we operate and approach the marketplace. But we also must continue to tackle our immediate priorities with vigor and discipline. Terry and I have an outstanding relationship and we will continue to collaborate closely through this CEO transition process.”
Macy’s Inc. share prices opened about 3.5 percent higher this morning, on the news of the transition.
