Elliott Rodgers, a former military man and ex-Foot Locker executive, is joining Kohl’s Corp. as chief operating officer, the company said Monday.
Rodgers, who brings more than 20 years of strong cross-functional leadership experience, will be responsible for Kohl’s enterprise operations, including its nearly 1,200 stores, global supply chain and distribution centers, procurement and loss prevention. He succeeds Dave Alves and will join the Menomonee Falls, Wisc.-based Kohl’s on Sept. 9.
“We are thrilled to welcome Elliott to our senior leadership team as we continue our transformational efforts to drive the business forward,” said chief executive officer Michael Bender, in a statement Monday afternoon. “With more than 20 years of leadership experience in retail and large-scale operational roles, he has helped brands navigate through change, embrace innovation and drive results through operational execution. Importantly, as he fills the role, which oversees the largest portion of our associate population, Elliott thrives at bringing people together to create an inspiring work environment and a winning-team mindset.”
Elliott Rodgers
Rodgers is joining Kohl’s at a crucial time. It’s been a bumpy ride for the value-oriented, family retailer over the last several years, but in the first quarter of this year, Kohl’s cited improvements in some key metrics, including driving expenses down and reducing top- and bottom-line declines. Also highlighted were proprietary brands, which are key to Kohl’s turnaround efforts and showed gains last quarter.
For the three months ended May 2, Kohl’s net sales decreased 1.7 percent to $3 billion, with comparable sales down 1.1 percent. The net loss was $14 million, or 13 cents per diluted share, compared to a net loss of $15 million, or 13 cents per diluted share, in the prior year.
“I’m honored to join Kohl’s and be a part of the company’s strategic path forward,” Rodgers said in a statement. “I’m energized by Kohl’s commitment to serving its customers now and for years to come, and I look forward to contributing to the work the teams already have underway — creating a compelling customer experience and paving a path for the future.”
Rodgers has more than two decades of experience across supply chain, technology, strategy, finance and human resource disciplines at retail, technology and financial service companies. Most recently, Rodgers was chief operations officer at Foot Locker Inc., where he led technology, supply chain, procurement, customer care, operations strategy and enterprise transformation. He left months ago due a corporate restructuring.
Before that, he was the chief people officer at Project44. From 2013 to 2021, Rodgers held progressive leadership roles at Ulta Beauty, including chief supply chain officer and chief information officer. Earlier in his career, Rodgers spent six years at Target in distribution and omnichannel operations and three years as a vice president at Citigroup. In addition, Rodgers was a captain in the U.S Army. He holds a bachelor of science degree from the United States Military Academy at West Point, and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
