On August 15 Monica Woo will become the new Chief Marketing Officer for Sears, ending her stint as chief marketing and strategy officer for online grocer FreshDirect.
Woo will be filling a post that has been vacant since January 2010 at a time when Sears Holding Co. has been struggling to remake itself amid steady declines since the 2005 merger between Sears and Kmart. Woo is expected to lead Sears’s efforts to reposition itself as a brand with a major online presence.
“I think it’s more confirmation that Lampert sees online as Sears’ savior,” said Morningstar analyst Paul Swinand, referring to chairman and top shareholder Edward Lampert. “She’s a hotter property than the recent CEO hire (Lou D’Ambrosio), so it’s mildly encouraging that she’s joined.”
In fact, investors cheered the news. Sears shares recovered somewhat from an earlier low of $66.52, though they still remained down 39 cents or 0.6 percent at $67.69 in Nasdaq trading.
Sears Holdings is reputed to have had trouble hiring key executives because Lampert is seen as a tough boss to work for, one who has been unwilling to pay generous compensation, Swinand said.
“The risk to the joining executive is high, since results have been weak,” he added.
Sears struggled to find a new CEO. Lou D’Ambrosio was promoted to CEO only this February after serving as interim CEO and president for more than three years. Three months later the chief financial officer resigned.
Woo will report to David Friedman, senior vice president and president of Sears’ marketing business, who joined the company last year. Her predecessor, Don Hamblen, had left Sears in January 2010 to join Family Dollar Stores.
Prior to her position at FreshDirect Woo was president of the consumer floral division
of 1-800-Flowers.com Inc, CMO and Executive Vice President of eCommerce for NutriSystem, CMO of Deutsche Bank AG’s online retail bank in Latin America and president of global brands for Bacardi Ltd.
Woo received her B.A. from Mills College in Oakland and her MBA from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business.
