Former JCPenney CEO joins Southwest Airlines board
Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV) has named former JCPenney CEO Jill Soltau as to its board of directors, effective Feb. 15. During her tenure, the chain re-introduced a line of jeans, created smaller store footprints, and updated its fitting rooms, and Soltau introduced a plan to close underperforming stores. At Southwest, $1.3 billion in technology improvements, upgrades and system maintenance has become its top priority after a system meltdown led to 16,700 cancelled flights between Christmas and New Year’s resulted in a $220 million loss during the fourth quarter.