JCPenney adds exec for new store center strategy

Home Textiles Today Staff -- Home Textiles Today, 3/2/2012 3:32:55 PM

JCPenney adds exec for new store center strategy
Plano, Texas - JCPenney has hired an executive whose background includes time at Nike, Apple and Disney to help develop its new center core strategy of installing attractions and services into the heart of the store to drive traffic.
Laurie Beja Miller has been named executive vice president of The Square the company's name for the "gathering place" it plans to construct in the middle of its stores. She joins the company April 1 and will report to ceo Ron Johnson.
Miller was most recently senior vp and gm, Americas, at Bare Escentuals, which she joined in 2010. Prior to that, she spent three years at Nike as gm and, vp, Nike Retail U.S.
She was previously vp, product development and merchandising, at Hallmark Cards, a role she took after serving as vp, special projects, at Apple; senior vp and gmm at Pottery Barn; and executive vp at Disney Stores, focused on product development.
She also spent more than a decade (1984-1995) at Spiegel, where she was gm of electronic media. Miller began her career working in department stores, first at Milwaukee Boston Company and subsequently at Marshall Fields. She received a B.S. from Iowa State University in Textiles and Clothing/Business Administration.