Jill Soltau


Jill Ann Soltau is the current CEO of JCPenney. She was previously CEO of Jo-Ann Fabrics.

Education

A native of Viroqua, Wisconsin, Soltau is a 1989 graduate of University of Wisconsin–Stout’s retail merchandising and management undergraduate program.

Career

Jill Soltau started her career at Carson Pirie Scott before moving into senior level positions at Sears and Kohl's. In 2007, she joined Shopko where she served in various roles before becoming president of the company in 2013.
Soltau became CEO and president of Jo-Ann Fabrics on March 2, 2015. As CEO, she opposed President Trump's tariffs on Chinese goods and testified in front of the administration in opposition due to American manufacturers not being able to meet Jo-Ann's quality or volume needs.
On October 15, 2018, Soltau began as CEO and a member of the board of JCPenney following Marvin Ellison's departure and the decline of the struggling company. She is the 25th woman currently leading a Fortune 500 company, Penney's fifth chief executive in the past decade and first woman executive. Soltau faced with an uphill battle to revitalize a brand that had lost customer confidence. Soltau moved to close stores, exit the appliance market, remodel fitting rooms and introduce workshops for customers. Under her leadership in 2019, the company is scheduled to close dozens of stores after shifting its focus to home goods and women’s clothes. Some criticize the slow approach pointing out that the slow approach might be as dangerous as the previous CEO's quick approach She has also brought new talent and has cleaned out inventory.

Controversy

On May 14, 2020, after layoffs and furloughs of more than 80,000 employees and missing two payments on J.C. Penney debt, it was reported that Jill Soltau would receive a $4.5 million bonus.