Dive Brief:
- J. Crew has named Stacey Levitt as its executive vice president of e-commerce and digital experience, Levitt said in a recent LinkedIn post.
- Levitt comes to the apparel company after nearly a decade at Walmart, where she was most recently the vice president of e-commerce for Walmart.com. She previously also held senior-level positions at Hudson’s Bay Company and Saks Fifth Avenue.
- “My time at Walmart shaped me tremendously as a leader,” Levitt wrote in her LinkedIn post. “I had the privilege of working alongside extraordinary people and learned what it takes to innovate, operate at incredible scale, and stay relentlessly focused on the customer.”
Dive Insight:
J. Crew is adding a fresh face to its leadership team this month.
In addition to welcoming Levitt to the company, J. Crew Group is also bringing on Kathleen Van Nest Pierce as president of the J. Crew brand, effective Aug. 4. A veteran of Dyson Beauty and The Estée Lauder Companies, Pierce will oversee J. Crew’s design, marketing, merchandising and retail teams.
In her new role, Levitt will collaborate with Pierce.
“From my very first week, it’s clear that the passion people have for the brand comes through in every interaction. I’ve already been impressed by the talent, energy, and creativity I’ve seen firsthand,” Levitt wrote in her LinkedIn post.
J. Crew did not immediately respond to Retail Dive questions on Levitt’s role.
The apparel retailer landed on Retail Dive’s list of retailers vulnerable to bankruptcy earlier this year. The company has recently struggled to get its assortment and pricing strategy correct, Amanda O’Neill, retail director at S&P Global Ratings, told Retail Dive in January. S&P downgraded J. Crew’s parent company, Chino’s Intermediate 2, at the end of last year. At the time, Moody’s Ratings and Fitch Ratings also issued ratings indicative of the company’s credit risk.
The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in May 2020, and months later exited stating that it was “well positioned for long-term growth.”
