JCPenney Chairman & CEO To Deliver 'Melvin Jacobs Retail Leadership Lecture'
Allen Questrom, chairman and CEO of JCPenney Company, Inc., will discuss the turnaround of JCPenney and the forces influencing today’s consumers during his “Melvin Jacobs Retail Leadership Lecture” at 2:30 p.m. on Feb. 12 in the Nittany Lion Inn Ballroom C. The Smeal College of Business event is free and open to the public.
UNIVERSITY PARK, PA—Allen Questrom, chairman and CEO of JCPenney Company, Inc., will discuss the turnaround of JCPenney and the forces influencing today’s consumers during his “Melvin Jacobs Retail Leadership Lecture” at 2:30 p.m. on Feb. 12 in the Nittany Lion Inn Ballroom C. The Smeal College of Business event is free and open to the public.
Questrom assumed his current position at JCPenney, one of America’s largest department store, drugstore, catalog, and e-commerce retailers, in September 2000. His mandate has been to return the company, which last year celebrated its 100th anniversary, to solid profitability and establish a framework for future success.
During his career, Questrom has built a reputation for guiding companies through transitions, beginning with Federated Department Stores, Inc., which he brought out of bankruptcy in the early 1990s. While at Federated, Questrom also engineered takeovers of R.H. Macy & Company, Inc. — the largest takeover in retailing history — and of Broadway Department Stores. In 1999, upon the emergence of Barneys New York, Inc. from bankruptcy, Questrom was appointed chairman, president and CEO.
A 1964 graduate of Boston University with degrees in finance and marketing, Questrom is a principal of AEA Investors, Inc. and a partner of Mellon Ventures. He also serves as a director of the National Retail Federation and is a member of the Board of Directors of Barneys New York, Inc.
About the “Melvin Jacobs Retail Leadership Lecture Series”
The lecture series is named in tribute to Melvin Jacobs, a 1947 graduate of Penn State and former chairman and CEO of Saks Fifth Avenue who died in 1993. Jacobs’ wife, Rosalind “Roz” Jacobs, and daughter, Peggy Learner, established an endowment to support lectures by outstanding leaders and chief executives who are shaping the future of the retail industry. Previous lectures in the series have featured Arthur C. Martinez, retired Sears’ chairman and CEO, and Leonard Lauder, chairman of The Estée Lauder Companies.
Jacobs began his retail career at Bloomingdale’s in the 1940s, eventually progressing to senior vice president and general merchandise manager. In 1972, he was named president and then chairman of Burdine's, a Florida-based department store chain owned by Federated Department Stores Inc., which also owned Bloomingdale's. Federated subsequently promoted him to vice chairman, but he resigned in 1982 to become chairman and CEO of Saks. After retiring from Saks, Jacobs launched a retailing and investment company called Retail Options Inc., and joined the board of QVC Network Inc., the television shopping service.
Among his many career highlights, Jacobs is widely credited for taking a leadership role in launching the careers of emerging American designers and recognizing the importance of European ready-to-wear. He also led Saks Fifth Avenue from 34 stores to 49, doubled its sales, and more than doubled its profits in 11 years at the helm.
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