Former Target Asset Protection executive Named Chief Executive at J.C.
Penney - Marvin Ellison former EVP Stores for Home Depot
J.C. Penney said on Monday that it was bringing in a
Home Depot executive, Marvin Ellison, as president and as its next chief
executive. Mr. Ellison, currently executive vice president for stores at
Home Depot, will join Penney's on Nov. 1 and will also be a board member. He
will succeed Myron E. Ullman III as chief executive on Aug. 1, 2015, when
Mr. Ullman will become executive chairman for one year, the company said.
Before his 12-year tenure at Home Depot, Mr. Ellison served for 15 years in
various positions at Target. Penney's went through a disastrous spell under
its previous chief executive, Ron Johnson, who introduced designer boutiques
and stable prices instead of coupons. The effort to make the stores slicker
flopped, and Mr. Johnson was let go in April 2013, 17 months after he joined
the company from Apple. (Source
nytimes.com)
Marvin Ellison
J.C. Penney Names Home Depot's Marvin Ellison As CEO
Mr. Ellison, a 49-year-old retail industry veteran, will become Penney’s
president Nov. 1. He will add the role of CEO next August when Mr. Ullman is
slated to begin a one-year term as executive chairman of the retailer’s board.
Mr. Ellison spent the past 12 years at Home Depot, where he has served as the
executive vice president of U.S. stores since 2008. He was thought to be a
possible CEO candidate at Home Depot but was passed over for the top spot
earlier this year when the home-improvement chain named another company veteran,
Craig Menear, to the post. Analysts at Sterne Agee called the CEO hire a "bright
spot for the company" and pointed to Mr. Ellison’s in-store experience.
Investors also pushed Penney shares higher following the appointment.
Penney had a difficult time finding a new CEO. The enormity of the challenges
confronting the department-store retailer as it tries to claw back market share
put off several experienced candidates, including other current retail CEOs who
were been approached for the job, The Wall Street Journal previously reported.
Mr. Ellison’s appointment comes days after Penney cut its sales forecast for the
current quarter. The rate at which the retailer converted browsers into buyers
declined, Mr. Ullman said, with a particularly weak September showing pushing
the company to reduce its guidance for the period. Penney said it is confident
that Mr. Ellison’s experience with store operations and supply chain management
will help it return to profit growth. (Source
wsj.com)
Marvin Ellison - The Asset Protection Executive
Who Took It All the Way Starting in 1987 at Target as a Store Security Officer Marvin was promoted seven
times during his 17 year tenure there. Finally reaching the Director of Assets
Protection - East Division position in 1999 where he had over 450 stores in 24
states. With being promoted virtually every twenty-nine months he quickly showed
early in his career that he was able to master each position and successfully
build a strong and well respected reputation at Target and throughout the
industry. In 2002 he joined Home Depot as their Vice President of Asset
Protection and once again was promoted virtually every two or three years to his
most recent position as executive Vice President of Stores. With a Bachelor of
Business Administration degree from the University of Memphis in Business
Marketing, Marvin has become the #1 most successful Asset Protection executive
in the industry. With only one other Loss Prevention executive even getting
close to his accomplishment, Tom Coughlin, the former Vice Chairman of Wal-Mart
which ended disappointingly. Marvin Ellison now makes history for the LP
industry and for each executive in this community. One that shows that even LP
executives can reach the absolute top spot.
Marvin Ellison speaks at the NRF LP
Conference in June 2010 and shares his expectations of a Loss Prevention
Executive In June of 2010 Marvin participated in
a "C" level panel discussion at the NRF's Loss Prevention conference that was
moderated by Kelly Gorman, the Vice President of Loss Prevention for PetCo, and
shared with the attendees his thoughts about the profile of a successful Loss
Prevention executive. And later that year we presented his comments at the
Retail Council of Canada's Loss Prevention Conference and have included the
slide for your review:
Marvin was very clear about how proud he was of the Asset Protection efforts at
Home Depot and how they had distinguished themselves during hurricane Katrina in
2005. This being a watershed event for the team where AP had truly added value
and took a leadership role in helping Home Depot take the lead in the recovery
efforts. He went on to talk about his "Mantra" of how an Asset Protection
executive should really be focused on adding value in every store they visit and
how their approach should not be to leave a punch list that someone else follows
up on. But to take a list back with them that they themselves will be following
up on and helping that store reach it's goals and be successful. He went on to
talk about how important it is to be passionate about what you do and how that
impacts everyone around you and motivates and inspires long after you leave. His
critical point focused on how an Asset Protection executive always has to speak
the language of retail and assimilate to the operators and merchants and become
a retail executive first that happens to specialize in Asset Protection. Adding
one personal example, where Marvin, as the Vice President of Asset Protection at
Home Depot, actually staffed a financial position that translated every expense
and project into how those investments impacted the price per share. Clearly
showing how he was able to communicate the value of Asset Protection to the "C"
level executives.
He went on that day to emphasize how important it is to communicate and
integrate throughout the organization to the point that you're included and
viewed as a critical member of the management team in virtually every aspect of
the business.
This was probably one of the most rewarding sessions at the NRF that year and it
certainly made a mark on this writer.
Loss Prevention Magazine - From Store-Level LP Associate to EVP of Stores -
March 1, 2009 In this article Marvin gives his advice for anyone who
is looking to redefine his or her career or looking for a place to get started
again is to go to a company that is committed to your function, whether that
function is loss prevention, risk management, or safety. It is important that
the company is committed to your craft and understands the value of what you
do. It is also important that you sharpen your skill set so that you have a
broader range of skills. It is important not to be one dimensional.
(Source
lpportal.com)
It Won't Be Easy At JCP
With Apple's former senior executive Ron Johnson failing when he tried to
reinvent J.C. Penney the challenge is great for any executive and now we have a
former Asset Protection executive who's ultimately responsible for re-birthing
one of America's Icon's. Yes, the last few quarters have been better for them.
With the second quarter actually showing a comparable store increase of 6% as
reported on August 14th. With some even coining the phrase
"Back from the Dead" to explain their current status. However in that same
article it was pointed out that "one reason that Penney's results look so good
is that the comparisons are so easy. Same-store sales plunged for two years and
didn't make it back into the black until October of last year. Margins were just
as bad and really had nowhere to go but up." But their second term CEO Mike
Ullman was able to slow if not completely stop the bleeding and that's good news
for any new CEO. But the issue is can the new CEO actually complete the
turnaround and bring them back to prominence. That's going to be a feat for
anyone given the current state of the malls in America. With traffic down and
everyone fighting Amazon how does a big box retailer predominately located in
malls start growing again? They've already squeezed every expense line they can
and Macy's Omni-Channeling efforts are well on their way. This is going to be an
exciting thing to watch especially given that the leader, the one ultimately
responsible came from our ranks.
It Can Be Done
If there's one lesson here for everyone in the Loss Prevention industry it is
that anything is possible if you set your mind to it and go after it. You've
just got to have the confidence, the courage, and be willing to invest yourself
entirely.
We
at the Daily wish Marvin all the best and would like to thank him
for leading the way for the entire industry. |
