Personnel

Macy's announced on Monday that its chief merchandising officer, Jeffrey Gennette, would become the company's new president, a promotion that may put him next in line to become chief executive. Until Monday, Terry J. Lundgren, Macy's chief executive, held the title of president, as well. "I'm O.K. with going down to three titles," Mr. Lundgren said. "As of yesterday, I was chairman, president, CEO and, most importantly, chief customer officer of the company." Gennette, 52, has held several positions at Macy's in different parts of the country. He's been chief merchandising officer since 2009.

Levi Strauss & Co., the San Francisco apparel company best known for its denim clothing, said it will remove 800 jobs as part of an effort to cut $175 million to $200 million in costs. The so-called global productivity initiative will roll out over the next 12 months to 18 months, the company said Wednesday. The first phase is expected to result in $75 million to $100 million in savings, the company said. The job cuts, which will affect 20% of Levi's non-retail and non-manufacturing employee base

Toys"R"Us unveiled its "go forward" strategy Wednesday, but much of its game plan seemed to come from past playbooks. Toys"R"Us CEO Antonio Urcelay and U.S. President Hank Mullany told analysts, investors and the media that they have a "TRU Transformation" plan in the works that they believe will stabilize sales, reduce costs and position the company for future growth. They said they've already made significant cost-reduction moves. Those include cutting about 100 jobs at the Wayne, N.J. headquarters out of 1,600 positions and more than 400 jobs worldwide out of more than 67,000 posts over the past month.

Gordmans Stores’ President and CEO Jeff Gordman has resigned his post. According to the company, he's retiring to spend more time with his family as well as to pursue outside interests. Board Chairman T. Scott King will serve as interim CEO while the company searches for Gordman's successor. King will work closely with the company's current management team and board of directors to oversee the company's ongoing planned initiatives on a full-time basis. He will take an unpaid leave of absence from his position at Sun Capital Partners during his service with Gordmans.

J.C. Penney is going to war against a former employee who outed the department store for its questionable discounting practices. The department store was drastically hiking prices on items, cutting them back and then advertising huge "discounts," the former employee, Bob Blatchford, told the "Today" show last July. In one case, a "rack of $7 shorts became $14, and then they were 50 percent off," a separate J.C. Penney worker told the "Today" show. "I saw a lot of pricing teams going through the store, raising the prices, mostly doubling — towels and clothing," Blatchford told NBC's Jeff Rossen.

Retailer Ann Inc., whose brands include Ann Taylor and Loft, is eliminating about 100 positions from its corporate workforce, the company announced Friday. Although Ann provided a weaker-than-expected revenue outlook for the year, its earnings nearly doubled in its fiscal fourth quarter, which included the crucial holiday shopping season. A spokeswoman for Ann Inc. said that the 100 positions being eliminated include some that are open, and most are at its New York headquarters. The positions represent about 10 percent of the company's corporate workforce.

President Obama, in rewarding Gap for its decision to raise minimum wage for its store workers, paid an unexpected visit to one of its namesake stores in New York on Tuesday, reportedly spending about $150 for the First Lady and their daughters. However, the shopping trip to drum up support for his minimum wage hike call to $10.10 from $7.25 may not do much to change most retailers' thinking on the issue. Despite Gap's move to raise minimum wage for its 65,000 workers, most retailers have chosen to stay on the sidelines to

Ron Johnson, the former J.C. Penney chief executive who was ousted last year after a controversial attempt to modernize the retail chain, didn't receive severance when he left the company. Johnson and Chief Talent Officer Daniel Walker, who also resigned in April 2013, both didn't receive severance payments, according to a company filing yesterday. Michael Kramer, the former chief operating officer, did get a payout, though the company reduced his termination agreement by $1 million. He was paid a total of $2.35 million last year. The lack of severance serves as an endnote to Johnson's tumultuous career at J.C. Penney.

The recent holiday season provided an example of a consumer-driven "correction" taking place in the retail industry, Nike CEO Mark Parker told CNBC on Thursday, and that's created a big priority for the sneaker and athletics company. "Obviously there's a huge appetite from a consumer standpoint for digital products — e-commerce, digitally based commerce I should say," Parker said during an interview on "Squawk on the Street." "We'll see that continue. This holiday was a great example of how the consumer is shifting, not only to digital but mobile-based digital commerce."

RadioShack said Wednesday its board approved retention bonuses of up to $1.49 million combined for top executives, aiming to keep its leadership in place during the company's turnaround. Executives are entitled to a bonus if they remain employed by RadioShack through March 1, 2015. Chief Executive Joseph Magnacca is in line to receive $500,000. The remaining funds would go to Chief Financial Officer John W. Feray, Human Resources Chief Telvin P. Jeffries, Executive Vice President of Store Operations Troy H. Risch and Senior Vice President of Store Concepts Michael S. DeFazio.