Dive Brief:

• Retailer Kohl’s granted CFO Jill Timm a raise in base salary as well as a one-time grant of restricted stock units in recognition for her work with the company and in “consideration for her continued employment,” according to a Tuesday filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
• Timm received a boost in her base salary from $900,000 to $950,000, as well as a one-time stock incentive valued at $1.5 million, both to be effective April 21, according to the filing.
• The raise comes as Kohl’s continues to struggle with economic headwinds, including a decrease in consumer spending following stubborn inflation. The retailer’s less-than-stellar financial performance has also led to multiple swaps in its executive leadership team over the past year.

Dive Insight:

The salary bump follows a previous increase of Timm’s compensation in August in accordance with the finance chief’s assumed responsibilities of the company’s credit business at the time, according to the company’s proxy statement filed March 23. Timm’s compensation included a base salary of $900,000, an annual bonus opportunity of 130% of her base salary, as well as an annual long-term incentive award target of $2 million, Kohl’s said.     

A 24-year veteran of the Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin-based retailer, Timm has served as its CFO since 2019, according to her LinkedIn profile. The raise comes as Kohl’s, one of the country’s largest department store chains, has been battling slumping sales and increased turmoil in its executive leadership suite.

In February, Kohl’s appointed its interim CEO, Tom Kingsbury, to take the seat on a permanent basis. Kingsbury had served as interim in the role since December 2022, following the departure of previous Kohl’s CEO Michelle Gass, who left to serve as president for denim brand Levi’s.

In connection with Kingsbury’s appointment as CEO, Kohl’s also announced it had reached an agreement with activist investor Macellum Advisors, which — as well as others in the company’s investor group — had lodged critiques of company management as well as merchandising and customer engagement strategies, Industry Dive sister publication Retail Dive reported.

Kingsbury took on the executive chair amid a flurry of other C-suite shifts at the beleaguered retailer, with the company shuffling executives in its chief marketing and chief technology officer positions in 2022, according to its proxy statement. Also in February, Kohl’s appointed retail veteran Dave Alves to the role of president and chief operating officer, to report to Kingsbury effective in April.

The reconstructed executive leadership team will likely face continued scrutiny from investors, with Kohl’s reporting a gloomy performance for its past several quarters. The retailer “did not achieve our fiscal 2022 financial goals and our NEOs did not receive any annual incentive payments,” it said in its proxy statement.

The company’s 2022 financial results were buffeted by economic headwinds, including high inflation which “dampened consumer spending across the broader retail industry, and especially in the discretionary categories Kohl’s offers,” the company said in its proxy statement.

Kohl’s experienced a 7.1% dip in net sales for its fiscal 2022 compared to 2021 for a total of $17.2 billion, according to its March 1 earnings report. It also reported a net loss of $19 million, compared to is net income of $938 million. The department store chain currently expects net sales in 2023 to decrease from between 2% to 4%, it said.