Kohl’s workers applaud retiring CEO Kevin Mansell on his last day.
Kohl’s workers applaud retiring CEO Kevin Mansell on his last day
Kohl’s Corp. employees sent outgoing CEO Kevin Mansell into retirement with an ovation Wednesday, gathering to applaud him as he left the company’s annual meeting.
About 1,200 staffers stood waiting outside the company’s Innovation Center in Menomonee Falls to cheer the executive, who has led Kohl’s recent upturn after what one director called the retail industry’s most turbulent and difficult years ever.
Mansell, 65, officially retired Wednesday after 36 years with Kohl’s, including the last 10 as CEO.
Succeeding him is Michelle Gass, who came to the Menomonee Falls firm from Starbucks in 2013. Gass had been Kohl’s chief merchandising and customer officer and was named CEO-elect last October.
Mansell came up through Kohl’s merchandising ranks, and his long tenure spanned a succession of very different periods.
When he started, the company was a modest local retailer with just a dozen stores. But in the ‘90s and early 2000s, Kohl’s rose to national prominence as a midtier retailer, carving out a favored position with its key customer, the sub-
urban mom.
As the company prospered, it added hundreds of stores across the country, its stock share price soared and it was widely viewed as an industry star.
Then came the Great Recession, the surge in online retailing and stiffer competition from discount merchants. Amid industry-wide struggles, particularly for department stores, Kohl’s stagnated. Net income fell every year from 2012 through 2016, and year-over-year sales comparisons at established stores were negative more often than not.
Seeking to turn Kohl’s around during that period, Mansell launched a broad effort he dubbed the Greatness Agenda.
The initial results were checkered, but last year the company showed signs of regaining its stride. Net income rose 4.5 percent when adjusted for one-time events, and fourth-quarter sales at established stores were up a whopping 6.3 percent.
Meanwhile, Kohl’s has won praise from industry observers for outsidethe-box
Kohl’s has won praise from industry observers for outside-the-box initiatives such as its pilot partnerships with online archrival Amazon and discount grocer Aldi.
initiatives such as its pilot partnerships with online archrival Amazon and discount grocer Aldi.
Wednesday, Mansell, who often is measured in his statements, took a short but enthusiastic victory lap for Kohl’s recent re-emergence.
Speaking to the crowd outside the annual meeting, Mansell said he had been talking earlier with Kohl’s directors about people who predicted the Greatness Agenda would fail.
“I can’t wait,” Mansell said he had told members of the company’s board, “for the day we actually prove them wrong.”
Then, to a burst of applause, he spiked a football onto the pavement.
Kohl’s employees — and everyone interested in the company’s affairs — soon will see whether the celebratory mood continues. On Tuesday, the firm will report its latest quarterly financial results. And with them, the Gass era will begin.