J.C. Penney names former Walmart exec among managerial appointments

By

Gabriella Lacombe

Published
Apr 18, 2019

J. C. Penney has named Steve Whaley as senior vice president, principal accounting officer and controller effective April 29, in addition to naming Laurene Gandolfo as senior vice president for home product design and development and Trish Adams as a new strategic advisor.

In his new role, Whaley will oversee the company's accounting operations and financial reporting functions, and will manage the J.C. Penney finance and support services teams in Salt Lake City, Utah, and Bangalore, India. He will also work with company leaders to develop and execute strategic financial decisions designed to meet near and long-term financial objectives.

Whaley will report to Bill Wafford, executive vice president, chief financial officer.

The new executive comes to J.C. Penney with over 35 years of accounting and audit leadership experience, including more than a decade-long year career with Walmart, where he served as the senior vice president and controller, principal accounting officer. Prior to Walmart, Whaley worked with Southwest Airlines for over 16 years, ultimately serving as vice president and controller. He began his accounting career with KPMG.

The company also named Laurene Gandolfo as senior vice president for home product design and development, a newly created role, effective April 22. According to J.C. Penney, she will work to re-establish relevance across the company's home categories and focus and segment J.C. Penney brands including J.C. Penney Home, Cooks and Liz Claiborne. 

Gandolfo brings over 35 years of varied retail experience to the position, including over 21 years specializing in the home area at Macy's and Bloomingdale's. She will report to Michelle Wlazlo, executive vice president, chief merchant.

Additionally, Trish Adams has been appointed as a strategic advisor to J.C. Penney, supporting the company's transformation office led by Truett Horne, senior vice president, chief transformation officer.

As a strategic advisor, Adams will evaluate and create plans to simplify and improve the effectiveness and profitability of the company's pricing and promotional strategies.

Adams joins J.C. Penney following an extensive career at Target Corporation, where she most recently served as executive vice president, merchandising product group. In addition, Adams has also held the roles of senior vice president of apparel and accessories and executive vice president, apparel and home with Target.