Risch’s role, formerly held by Scott Laverty, is effective immediately. She joins Plano-based Penney from the insurance company Country Financial, where she served as executive vice president and chief information officer. Her responsibilities included technology strategies and planning and overseeing data security.
Before joining Country Financial, Risch served in various roles with Target Corp.
“Therace is an outstanding (information technology) professional with an extensive background of merging innovative retail technologies and powerful applications to drive both brick-and-mortar and online growth,” Marvin R. Ellison, J.C. Penney’s CEO, said in a news release. “We are pleased to blend her 20 years of experience with the recently announced leaders of e-commerce and supply chain to offer a seamless omnichannel shopping experience across multiple customer touch points.”
Details of Risch’s salary have not yet been disclosed.
In the release, Penney said Risch’s appointment “reinforces the company’s commitment to becoming a world-class omnichannel retailer.” Omnichannel refers to a customer’s ability to buy a company’s products by multiple methods, including online and in stores.
In August, J.C. Penney hired executive Michael Amend as executive vice president of omnichannel. Amend is the former vice president of online, mobile and omnichannel with Ellison’s former company, Home Depot. While there, Amend helped roll out pick-up in store, buy online, ship to store, buy online and deliver to store options.
Penney also hired Mike Robbins as its senior vice president of supply chain. Robbins previously held the same position with Target Corp.’s U.S. stores.
Ellison has repeatedly highlighted the importance of omnichannel shopping to J.C. Penney’s profitability. The company now offers Sephora cosmetic products online and is working on an Apple Watch app.
“We’re deeply passionate about an omnichannel experience that serves customers any way that they want to be served,” Ellison said at a retailing conference in October. “We want to monetize every engagement with the customer so when he or she comes in, we offer them something that gives them the ability to solve a problem, fill a need and gets them excited about coming back.”
Date: December 18, 2015