JCPenney is positioning itself as a business in transformation, and in a blog post published by the company, the man in charge of the process noted that technology is going to play a big part in the changes that are underway.
Keith Melker, recently appointed chief transformation and strategy officer, said the company has defined goals it is pursuing in transformation.
“We’re not chasing shiny objects,” he said in the post. “Our focus is in making JCPenney a great place to shop and work.”
Melker said driving results within JCPenney’s transformation journey relies on technology, with consumer marketing, dot-com and the check-out experience all targets for improvement.
Prior to joining JCPenney, Melker was CEO of Wehner Multifamily, a Texas-based property management company, and, before that, he served as chief strategy officer for Kimberly-Clark Corp. and as a managing director and partner at Boston Consulting Group. At his hiring was announced, Marc Rosen, JCPenney CEO, cited his experience in transformation and strategic leadership as making Melker an important source of advice on the company’s operational renewal and customer proposition.
“In strategy consulting, I had the opportunity to work with JCPenney as a client,” said Melker. “Later in my career, I was introduced to Marc and became drawn to his vision for transforming the business. I always enjoyed the people and the collaborative culture of JCPenney. Ultimately, I joined because of the people.”
Since he became part of JCPenney’s leadership team on February 1, Melker has supervised the transformation office, as the company invests in its future.
“JCPenney is in a great starting position with low debt and good liquidity,” said Melker. “There’s a lot of people who believe in JCPenney, including our customers and our associates. Those are the ingredients that are going to help us to be transformative in everything that we do.”
