J. C. Penney Company, Inc. announced that James (Jim) DePaul, a highly accomplished field executive with nearly 25 years of retail experience, has been named executive vice president of stores, effective August 5, 2019 reporting directly to Jill Soltau, chief executive officer. He will be responsible for improving in-store and omnichannel operations as part of the company’s focus on transforming the customer experience to grow traffic, engagement and customer retention. As executive vice president of stores at the company, DePaul will oversee the company’s stores, store operations, store environment and design, and asset protection teams to deliver a fulfilling and productive customer experience. He joins the company from Shopko Stores where he served as chief operations officer, with responsibility for stores, pharmacy, optical, supply chain, e-commerce operations, non-merchandise procurement, store operations, store development, loss prevention and merchandise support.