Jenny Ming | |
|---|---|
| Born | Jenny Ming 1955 (age 69–70) |
| Alma mater | San José State University |
| Occupation | Retail fashion executive |
| Board member of | Levi Strauss & Co., Poshmark [1] |
Jenny Ming (born 1955) [2] is a retail fashion industry executive who served as the president and chief executive officer of Charlotte Russe Holding Inc. from 2009 to 2019. [3] From 1999 to 2006, Ming was president of Old Navy, a $6.7 billion business segment of Gap Inc., where she oversaw all aspects of Old Navy and its 900 retail clothing stores in the United States and Canada. [4]
Ming was born in China and raised in San Francisco. In middle school, she took an interest in home economics and intended to major in it in college. [5] However, her school soon canceled the program. After starting to take merchandising, marketing, and fashion design classes, [5] in 1978, she earned a Bachelor of Arts in clothing merchandising with a minor in marketing from San José State University. [6] In May 2012, Ming delivered the keynote address at San José State University's spring commencement ceremony and received an honorary doctor of humane letters from the university. [7] [8]
Ming's career began in management at a Mervyn's department store before she was personally recruited by Gap CEO Mickey Drexler in 1986. [9] Ming joined the San Francisco-based retailer as a buyer, and quickly worked her way up through the Gap management ranks, becoming a vice president after three years on the job.
In 1994, Drexler assigned Ming to a new executive team that would oversee a planned Gap spin-off, to be called Old Navy. In 1996, Ming became executive vice president of merchandising for the chain and was named president in March 1999. [10]
Business Week magazine named Ming one of the nation’s top-25 managers in 2000. She also appeared in Fortune magazine’s 2003 and 2004 lists of the 50 most powerful women in American business. [11]
According to Forbes.com, Ming has served on several boards, including Levi Strauss & Co., Poshmark, Paper Source, and Kaiser Permanente. [12]