Dive Brief:

• Express on Friday named Jason Judd chief financial officer, effective April 4, according to a company press release. Judd will report directly to CEO Tim Baxter. 
• Judd was previously at Big Lots as its senior vice president of corporate finance and treasurer where he worked with financial planning and analysis, treasury, risk management and investor relations.
• Matthew Moellering, who was interim CFO, will no longer serve in that role and will continue acting as the company's chief operating officer. Judd will also take on the role of principal accounting officer, which was previously held by Moellering, according to SEC documents.

Dive Insight:

Express is filling out its C-suite as it pursues its Expressway Forward growth strategy, which aims to generate over $100 million in operating profit by 2024. 

Judd's appointment comes five months after its last CFO, Perry Pericleous, left the position "to pursue another opportunity."

The specialty retailer commenced a search for a new CFO in October and named Moellering as acting CFO. Moellering, who is the company's COO, also previously served as the retailer's interim president and CEO for six months in 2019.

Judd, who comes to Express from discount retailer Big Lots, was also previously the chief financial officer of Justice at Ascena Retail Group. Before that, he was the associate vice president of finance at Victoria's Secret. 

"He is a seasoned, well rounded and accomplished financial executive with a proven track record of delivering results," Baxter said in a statement. "His experience across industries and companies, combined with his passion for retail makes him a terrific complement to our extraordinary leadership team, and I look forward to his contributions to our Expressway Forward strategy." 

Earlier in March, Express reported that Q4 net sales rose 38% year over year. Comps (stores plus e-commerce) rose 43% from 2020 and 4% from 2019.

That is a marked improvement for a retailer that was teetering on the edge of bankruptcy prior to the pandemic. The company started January 2020 by cutting 10% of its workforce and then reduced its corporate headcount by 10% at the close of that year as well.

The retailer has launched a number of initiatives, including opening Express Edit, smaller footprint stores with curated selections, in select cities. It also introduced its new DTC brand, UpWest, which this month expanded into activewear and now has stand-alone stores. The company also tapped Rachel Zoe to lead its expanded influencer network and relaunched its loyalty program, which gained 2.7 million new customers and reactivated 2.2 million lapsed ones.