CorpDigest
Kohl's Corporation
Leadership History
7 leaders · Full leadership timeline
Last reviewed: 2025-07-15 · By Swet Parvadiya
Kohl's is a retailer in structural decline fighting to stabilize. FY2025 revenue fell 4.6% to $15.46 billion, the third consecutive year of decline, with comparable sales down 3.1%. Net income of $272 million was inflated by a $129 million lawsuit gain; adjusted net income of $186 million barely improved from $167 million in FY2024. The company has burned through four CEOs in four years, with Michael Bender now tasked with executing a turnaround against a leveraged balance sheet carrying $6.63 billion in debt. The single bright spot is Sephora at Kohl's, which generated over $3.1 billion in Accessories sales and grew 2% even as every other merchandise category declined. FY2026 guidance calls for net sales down 2% to flat, adjusted operating margin of 2.8% to 3.4%, and diluted EPS of $1.00 to $1.60. The question is whether a retailer with a 3.3% adjusted operating margin can survive in an industry where off-price competitors are growing and department stores are disappearing.
Founder
Maxwell Kohl founded Kohl's in 1962, applying supermarket efficiencies to department store retail. He created a formula that offered lower prices than high-end stores with higher quality than discounters. By 1972, the enterprise included 56 supermarkets, 6 department stores, 3 drug stores, and 3 liquor stores. He sold a controlling interest to British American Tobacco in 1972 and retired.
President
Herbert Kohl, Maxwell's son, served as the last family member to lead Kohl's Department Stores. He resigned as president when BATUS Inc. acquired full ownership in 1979. He later became a U.S. Senator from Wisconsin (1989-2013) and owner of the Milwaukee Bucks (1985-2014).
CEO
William Kellogg led the management buyout of Kohl's from British American Tobacco in 1986 for approximately $300 million. He oversaw the company's national expansion, the 1988 Main Street acquisition, and the 1992 IPO. Under his leadership, Kohl's grew from 40 stores to a national chain.
CEO
Michelle Gass served as CEO from 2018 to November 2022. She launched the Amazon returns partnership nationwide in 2019 and the Sephora partnership in 2020. However, she de-emphasized proprietary brands in favor of national brands, which alienated the core customer. She departed to become president of Levi Strauss. Revenue declined during her tenure, and activist investors pressured the board for changes.
CEO
Tom Kingsbury, former CEO of Burlington Stores (2008-2019), took over as interim CEO in December 2022 and was named permanent CEO in February 2023. He reversed course on proprietary brands, bringing back Sonoma Goods for Life, Apt. 9, and coupons. He expanded the Sephora rollout to over 1,100 stores and launched the Babies 'R' Us partnership. Store comparable sales were flat in 2023, the best performance since 2010. He departed in early 2025.
CEO
Ashley Buchanan, former CEO of Michaels, became Kohl's CEO on January 15, 2025. He was fired for cause on May 1, 2025, after an investigation found he directed the company to engage in vendor transactions involving undisclosed conflicts of interest with a former romantic partner. His tenure lasted less than five months.
CEO
Michael Bender became interim CEO in May 2025 and permanent CEO in November 2025. He has over 30 years of retail experience, including as CEO of Eyemart Express and COO of Global eCommerce at Walmart. He has been a Kohl's board member since July 2019. His mandate is to stabilize sales, reduce debt, and restore investor confidence after years of leadership churn.
The most immediate threat to Kohl's margin and market share is the structural decline of the department store sector combined with eight consecutive quarters of same-store sales declines. In FY2025, comparable sales fell 3.1%, following a 6.5% decline in FY2024 and a 4.7% decline in FY2023. Net sales have fallen from $17.16 billion in FY2022 to $14.78 billion in FY2025, a 13.9% decline over three years. This erosion is not cyclical — it is structural. The U.S. department store sector contracted 2.7% in 2023 while total retail excluding food service, automobiles, and gas stations grew 3.5%. Kohl's core middle-income customer is under pressure from persistent inflation, and the company's value proposition — 'national brands at discount prices' — is being undercut by off-price retailers (TJX, Ross Stores), Amazon, and fast fashion (Shein, Temu). The second challenge is leadership instability: four CEOs in four years (Michelle Gass departed November 2022, Tom Kingsbury served 2023-early 2025, Ashley Buchanan was fired for cause in May 2025 after less than five months, Michael Bender took over November 2025). This churn has prevented coherent strategy execution. The third challenge is the credit card program, which generates high-margin revenue but is sensitive to macroeconomic conditions. Credit revenue declined 10% in FY2025, and the company warned that 'further deterioration in macroeconomic conditions, including persistent inflation or rising unemployment, could increase credit losses and write-offs.' Consumer preference is also shifting toward 'buy now, pay later' and digital payment methods, threatening the loyalty and higher-margin transactions associated with the Kohl's credit card. The fourth challenge is the Amazon returns partnership, launched in 2019 as the 'single biggest initiative of the year' by then-CEO Michelle Gass, which was supposed to drive foot traffic and new customer acquisition. The company claimed 2 million new customers from the partnership in 2021, but mentions of Amazon on earnings calls dropped off after 2022, and in March 2025 Kohl's began testing the discontinuation of Amazon returns at select stores. Store employees on Reddit celebrated the change, with one commenting 'Amazon is a headache and can't be worth it with the amount of work and man hours it takes to do it.' The fifth challenge is debt and leverage: total debt stands at $6.63 billion, including $1.44 billion in long-term debt, $2.37 billion in finance lease obligations, and $2.65 billion in operating lease obligations. The company issued $360 million in 10.000% senior secured notes in 2025 — a punitive interest rate that reflects credit market skepticism. Interest expense was $288 million in FY2025, consuming 46% of operating income. The sixth challenge is the proprietary brand strategy reversal. Under Michelle Gass, Kohl's de-emphasized private labels in favor of national brands, which alienated the core customer who shopped Kohl's for value. CEO Tom Kingsbury began reversing this in 2023 by bringing back proprietary brands and coupons, but the damage to customer frequency was already done. The company reported that the Kohl's charge customer (credit card holder) was running negative comps while the non-charge customer was positive, indicating that the most loyal customers were the most dissatisfied.