Sears Holdings Corp. has created a new position to be occupied a former Johnson & Johnson executive, who is tasked to turn around several of the retailer's struggling brands, Reuters reported.
The news wire said Lyn Pendergrass, formerly a senior manager in Johnson & Johnson, Hewlett-Packard Co. and General Electric Co., will become president of Hardlines and will work with the Kenmore, Craftsman and DieHard business unit and its Hardlines partners, including Home Appliances, Lawn & Garden, Tools and Sears Auto Centers.
It added that Pendergrass's marching orders are to lift sales of the said brands while working with the retailer's various divisions.
"Lynn is a proven executive with deep expertise driving cross-functional alignment, growing market share and delivering on key objectives. Her range and depth of consumer and product experiences, coupled with her track record of achieving results through diverse teams makes her a strong fit for Sears Holdings as we pursue our member-focused transformation," said Edward S. Lampert, Sears Chairman and CEO, in a statement.
The statement added that during Pendergrass's time at Johnson & Johnson, she was responsible for a $14 billion business segment that had 23,000 employees in 80 countries as worldwide. She was also senior vice president and general manager of the printing and personal systems group at Hewlett-Packard prior to Johnson & Johnson. Before HP, Pendergrass headed the consumer businesses of General Electric for over 20 years.
Reuters noted Pendergrass's background in promoting global brands suggests Sears will make a push to sell Kenmore, Diehard and Craftsman products beyond the company's stores. The report noted that the three brands are among Sears's crown jewel, valued at $2.1 billion, but the market share of those are on a slide.
Citing data from Traqline survey, Reuters pointed out that the U.S. market share of those brands have slumped by least two percent from four years ago.
