Retail Apocalypse Gives More Women a Shot as CEO
A strong bench of female candidates is benefiting from the industry’s woes.
Daniella Vitale
Photographer: Craig Barritt/Getty ImagesThe retail apocalypse is paying off for at least one group: women in the C-suite.
While the crop of chief executives at the biggest U.S. companies gets more male, women have made some notable gains in retail. Just last month, Genesco Inc., which owns the Journeys shoe brand, named its first female CEO, Mimi E. Vaughn, who was previously the chief operating officer and will take over in February. Department store chains Kohls Corp. and J.C. Penney Co. brought on their first female CEOs in 2018; Best Buy Co. promoted its chief financial officer, Corie Barry, in June to become the first woman to run the electronics company. Now, retail has the highest representation of women in the top job among large sectors in the Russell 3000: About 7% of retail CEOs are women, versus about 5% in the broader index.