JC Penney recruits core member of Apple's retail design team
updated 04:30 pm EDT, Thu April 26, 2012
Department store fills with ex-Apple crew
As a part of a management expansion, JC Penney has hired a core member of Apple's retail design staff, Benjamin Fay, as its new executive VP of real estate, store design and development. The press release contains a statement from JCP CEO Ron Johnson, who was long the head of Apple's retail division until he left last November. "Ben is an incredibly creative professional with extraordinary leadership skills. Having worked with him over the last 12 years, I am delighted to see Ben step into this new role at jcp," the quote reads. "His design influence has made the Apple stores highly regarded retail destinations around the world, and I am excited to have Ben place his own mark on jcp as we re-imagine the jcpenney store of the future."
Since taking control of JC Penney Johnson has overhauled the company's executive staff, often hiring people he had once worked with at Apple or Target. Fay, though, may be the first person to have been recruited directly from Apple, rather than jobs that followed stints at the company.
Fay spent a total of eight years at Apple as a senior director, controlling the design of both retail locations and corporate offices. He appears to have been brought to the company because of four years at Gensler, an architectural firm where much of his time was spent working on Apple retail projects.
