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Terry Lundgren

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Terrence James Lundgren
BornMarch 23, 1952 (age 74)
Long Beach, California, United States
NationalityAmerican
EducationUniversity of Arizona (BA, 1974)
OccupationBusiness executive
CompanyTJL Advisors, LLC (formerly Macy's, Inc.)
TitleFounder and chief executive officer, TJL Advisors, LLC
SpouseNancy Cross (divorced); Tina Lundgren
ChildrenTwo daughters

Terrence James "Terry" Lundgren (born 23 March 1952) is an American retail executive who served as chairman and chief executive officer of Macy's, Inc. from 2004 to 2017 and as the company's executive chairman from 2017 until his retirement on 31 January 2018.[1][2] He had been president and chief executive officer of the company, then known as Federated Department Stores, Inc., from February 2003, adding the chairmanship in January 2004.[3] Federated changed its name to Macy's, Inc. on 1 June 2007.[4]

Lundgren spent his entire retailing career inside the Federated group of department stores and its subsidiaries before rising to the top job, with an interlude of six years running Neiman Marcus. He began at the Bullock's division of Federated Department Stores in Los Angeles in 1975, became president of the Bullocks Wilshire specialty chain in 1987, moved to Neiman Marcus in 1988 where he became chairman and chief executive officer at the age of thirty-seven, and returned to Federated in 1994 to run its merchandising operations before advancing to chief merchandising officer, president, and ultimately chief executive.[5][3] As chief executive of Macy's he directed the 2005 acquisition of the May Department Stores Company, the conversion of more than four hundred regional department stores to the Macy's nameplate, the "My Macy's" localisation programme, and the 2015 acquisition of the beauty retailer Bluemercury.[6][7]

Since leaving Macy's, Lundgren has been the founder and chief executive officer of TJL Advisors, LLC, a private advisory firm, and has served on the boards of several public companies and civic organisations.[8] He joined the board of the Procter & Gamble Company in 2013, chaired its Compensation and Leadership Development Committee, and retired from that board on 14 October 2025.[9][10] He has also served on the boards of Kraft Foods Inc. and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and as chairman of the National Retail Federation and the National Minority Supplier Development Council.[4][11][12]

Lundgren has received the National Retail Federation's Gold Medal Award, Carnegie Hall's Medal of Excellence, and Columbia Business School's Deming Cup, and in October 2025 he received the Retail Excellence Award from the Wharton School's Baker Retailing Center and the Retail Leaders Circle Global Forum.[13][14]

Early life and education

Terrence James Lundgren was born on 23 March 1952 in Long Beach, California, one of six children.[1][6] His parents had limited financial resources, and he was the only one of the six siblings to attend college.[6] Lundgren enrolled at the University of Arizona in Tucson, where he was elected president of his fraternity pledge class, but his grades were poor enough that his parents stopped paying his tuition.[6][5] He supported himself through the rest of his studies by working at a Tucson restaurant, starting by cracking oysters and peeling shrimp before being promoted successively to waiter, head waiter, and finally manager of the restaurant.[6][5] He graduated from the University of Arizona with a bachelor's degree in 1974, debt free.[5][4]

The University of Arizona later awarded Lundgren an honorary Doctor of Laws degree in 2000, and Suffolk University awarded him an honorary Doctor of Commercial Sciences degree in 2001.[15] Lundgren went on to found and support a retailing centre named in his honour at his alma mater, the Terry J. Lundgren Center for Retailing at the University of Arizona.[14]

Career

Federated Department Stores: Bullock's division, 1975 to 1987

Lundgren began his retailing career in 1975 as a trainee at Bullock's, the Los Angeles based department store division of Federated Department Stores, Inc.[3][13] Over the following decade he held positions of increasing responsibility in buying, store management, human resources, and senior-level store management, and served as the division's director of stores.[3][13] He was named senior vice president and general merchandising manager of Bullock's in 1984.[3]

Bullocks Wilshire, 1987 to 1988

In 1987 Lundgren was named president and chief executive officer of Bullocks Wilshire, then an upscale chain of specialty department stores owned by Federated.[3][13]

Neiman Marcus, 1988 to 1994

Lundgren left Federated in 1988 to join Neiman Marcus as executive vice president, and was shortly afterward named the company's chairman and chief executive officer at the age of thirty-seven, during a United States recession.[3][6] He led Neiman Marcus for six years before returning to Federated.[3]

Federated Merchandising Group, 1994 to 1997

Lundgren returned to Federated Department Stores in April 1994 as chairman and chief executive officer of the Federated Merchandising Group, the company's central buying and private-brand development arm.[3][15]

President and chief merchandising officer, 1997 to 2003

Lundgren was named a director of Federated Department Stores in May 1997 and president and chief merchandising officer that same month, a post he held until April 2002.[1][15] From April 2002 until February 2003 he held the combined title of president, chief operating officer, and chief merchandising officer.[1]

President and chief executive officer, 2003 to 2004

Lundgren was named president and chief executive officer of Federated Department Stores in February 2003, retaining the presidency of the company until March 2014.[3][4][1]

Chairman, president and chief executive officer, 2004 to 2014

Lundgren added the chairmanship of Federated Department Stores in January 2004, becoming the first executive in the company's history to hold the titles of chairman, president, and chief executive simultaneously.[15] At the time, the company operated about 460 stores in thirty-four states.[15] In August 2005 Federated completed its acquisition of the May Department Stores Company, a rival department store operator, in a deal reported at approximately $11 billion.[6] The merger of May's operating subsidiary into Federated, and the subsequent internal merger of that subsidiary into Federated, closed on 30 August 2005, according to Federated's own filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.[16] Federated changed its corporate name to Macy's, Inc. on 1 June 2007 and, under Lundgren, converted more than four hundred regional department store nameplates acquired through the May merger, including Marshall Field's, Hecht's, and Filene's, to the Macy's name, creating a single nationwide department store brand for the first time.[4][2] In spring 2008 the company launched "My Macy's," a localisation initiative that tailored a portion of each store's merchandise assortment to local tastes; the company reported that thirteen of its fifteen best-performing geographic markets in December 2008 were My Macy's pilot districts, and the programme was expanded company-wide the following year.[6] By 2008, following integration of the May stores, the combined company operated more than eight hundred stores in the United States and reported net sales of $24.9 billion for the year.[13][12]

Chairman and chief executive officer, 2014 to 2017

Lundgren continued as chairman and chief executive officer of Macy's, Inc. through this period.[1] In March 2015 the company completed its acquisition of Bluemercury, Inc., a Washington, D.C. based luxury beauty and spa retailer, for $210 million in cash; at the time of the acquisition Macy's, Inc. operated about 885 stores across forty-five states, the District of Columbia, Guam, and Puerto Rico, and had reported fiscal 2014 sales of $28.105 billion.[7] Macy's, Inc. retained Bluemercury's co-founders, Marla Malcolm Beck and Barry Beck, to continue running the business as a stand-alone specialty operation.[7]

Executive chairman, 2017 to 2018

Macy's, Inc. promoted Jeff Gennette to chief executive officer in March 2017, and Lundgren moved into the role of executive chairman, retaining the title of chairman of the board "until such time as the Board shall decide" otherwise, a structure the company said would allow Gennette to focus on executing corporate strategy while continuing to receive Lundgren's counsel.[1] Lundgren was sixty-five years old at the time of the transition.[1] He retired from Macy's, Inc. and from the executive chairman role on 31 January 2018, having spent fourteen years as chairman and chief executive and more than four decades in the Federated and Macy's organisation.[1][2]

TJL Advisors and later activities, 2018 to present

Following his retirement from Macy's, Lundgren founded TJL Advisors, LLC, a private advisory firm of which he serves as chief executive officer.[8][4] The Procter & Gamble Company's 2024 proxy statement described him as a former operating partner of Long-Term Private Capital, a BlackRock private equity fund.[9] He has also served as an executive in residence at Columbia Business School.[4]

Leadership and management style

Lundgren was known during his time as chief executive for direct, frequent engagement with store-level operations. In a 2012 interview he said of his habit of visiting Macy's stores and speaking with local managers, "People now know that I do this a lot ... walk through the floor," describing his practice of observing store operations as an ordinary customer would rather than relying solely on reports from headquarters.[15] The "My Macy's" programme he introduced in 2008 reflected the same instinct for decentralised, locally tailored decision-making, pushing merchandise assortment decisions down to the store and district level rather than dictating them centrally from Cincinnati or New York.[6] At the presentation of the 2025 Retail Excellence Award, Matthew Shay, president and chief executive officer of the National Retail Federation, said of Lundgren's approach to technology and supply chain investment, "Before anyone else was doing it, Terry was thinking about it," citing his early attention to omnichannel retailing and forward-deployed inventory.[14] At the same event, Lundgren said that effective leaders must recognise that "he or she does not have all the answers" and must surround themselves with capable people rather than attempt to make every decision alone.[14] According to the Procter & Gamble Company's 2024 proxy statement, Lundgren personally managed Macy's, Inc.'s sustainability committee during his tenure, which focused on early adoption of solar energy and on strategies for carbon-footprint reduction through transportation efficiency, and he oversaw the creation and development of "The Workshop," a Macy's programme that helped launch small businesses owned by women, members of minority and LGBTQ communities, and military veterans, and that the proxy statement described as an important part of Macy's supplier-diversity strategy for more than a decade.[9]

Major deals and strategic decisions

The largest transaction of Lundgren's career was the 2005 acquisition of the May Department Stores Company, reported at approximately $11 billion, which Federated completed on 30 August 2005.[6][16] The deal, combined with the subsequent rebranding of acquired nameplates such as Marshall Field's, Hecht's, Filene's, Kaufmann's, and Robinsons-May to the Macy's name, converted Federated from a group of regional department store chains into a single national retail brand.[4] In March 2015, Lundgren directed Macy's, Inc.'s $210 million cash acquisition of the beauty and spa retailer Bluemercury, extending the company beyond department stores into a specialty, higher-growth retail category.[7] The "My Macy's" localisation initiative, launched in 2008 and expanded nationally in 2009, represented a strategic bet on decentralising merchandising decisions rather than continuing a uniform national assortment.[6]

Financial and market performance

Macy's, Inc. reported net sales of $24.9 billion in 2008, following the integration of the May Department Stores acquisition and more than eight hundred stores nationwide.[13][12] By fiscal 2014, the company reported sales of $28.105 billion and operated about 885 stores in forty-five states, the District of Columbia, Guam, and Puerto Rico.[7] By fiscal 2016, Lundgren's final full year leading the company, annual sales were reported at nearly $26 billion.[2] Lundgren's compensation as chief executive rose over his tenure; Fox Business reported his 2011 total compensation at $17.65 million, of which 87 per cent was tied to financial and stock performance.[15] For fiscal 2016, his final year in the chief executive role before becoming executive chairman, Macy's, Inc.'s own proxy statement reported his total compensation at $13,483,606, comprising a salary of $1,600,000, stock awards of $6,040,895, option awards of $3,999,996, non-equity incentive plan compensation of $370,700, a change in pension value of $1,355,655, and $116,360 in other compensation.[1]

Board memberships and outside roles

Lundgren joined the board of directors of the Procter & Gamble Company in 2013 and chaired its Compensation and Leadership Development Committee; he also served on its Innovation and Technology Committee.[9] In 2024, at age seventy-two, the P&G board made an exception to its standard director age guideline to renominate him; the company's proxy statement explained that the board considered it in the company's best interest to avoid disrupting the leadership of the Compensation and Leadership Development Committee at a time when three other board committee chairs were also transitioning that year, and it accordingly found "exceptional circumstances that warranted an exception to the age limit set forth in the Corporate Governance Guidelines."[9] He continued to serve on the P&G board through the filing of the company's fiscal 2025 annual report in August 2025, and retired from the board effective 14 October 2025.[17][10] He was nominated to the board of directors of Kraft Foods Inc. in March 2012, and served on the board of Kraft Foods, Inc. from 2012 to 2015, a period spanning the company's 2012 split into Kraft Foods Group and Mondelez International.[11][9][8] He served on the board of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York from 2011 to 2017.[9]

Lundgren currently serves on the board of directors of the Economic Club of New York, which he previously chaired, and on the board of New Data Network.[2] He chaired the National Retail Federation, the retail industry's principal trade association, and the National Minority Supplier Development Council, where he was serving as chairman as of the organisation's 2010 annual report.[4][12] He was also a co-chair of the Fashion.NYC.2020 initiative, launched by New York City to develop recommendations for supporting the city's fashion industry, alongside industry figures including Diane von Furstenberg and Kevin Ryan.[18] He has served as co-chairman of the Partnership for New York City and co-chair of the American Heart Association's CEO Roundtable, and as chairman of the American Society of Corporate Executives.[4] He was formerly a trustee of Carnegie Hall.[2] In November 2023 he was appointed to the board of trustees of the Sarasota Memorial Healthcare Foundation in Florida.[8] He has served as an executive in residence at Columbia Business School and as an original advisory board member of the Wharton School's Baker Retailing Center.[4][14]

Personal life

Lundgren was previously married to Nancy Cross; the couple had two daughters together before divorcing.[5] He later married Tina Lundgren.[4] As of his biography published by the Asia Global Institute, Lundgren resides in Florida with his wife.[4] His November 2023 appointment to the Sarasota Memorial Healthcare Foundation board, in Sarasota, Florida, is consistent with that residence.[8]

Philanthropy

Lundgren has been active in fundraising for the arts in New York. On 8 April 2008 Carnegie Hall held a gala in his honour at which he received the hall's third annual Medal of Excellence for philanthropic leadership in the arts; the gala raised $4.2 million for Carnegie Hall.[19] He founded and has continued to support the Terry J. Lundgren Center for Retailing at his alma mater, the University of Arizona.[14] He also served on the board of trustees of the Sarasota Memorial Healthcare Foundation, a hospital philanthropy in Florida, beginning in November 2023.[8]

Recognition

  • National Retail Federation Gold Medal Award, 2008, described by the organisation as the retail industry's leading honour.[13]
  • Carnegie Hall Medal of Excellence, 2008, the third recipient of the award, for philanthropic leadership in the arts.[13][19]
  • Honorary Doctor of Laws, University of Arizona, 2000.[15]
  • Honorary Doctor of Commercial Sciences, Suffolk University, 2001.[15]
  • Deming Cup, Columbia Business School W. Edwards Deming Center, 2012, shared that year with Ratan N. Tata of Tata Sons Limited, for distinction in leading continuous improvement.[3]
  • Named to Barron's list of the Top 30 CEOs in the world, March 2015.[20]
  • Retail Excellence Award, Baker Retailing Center of the Wharton School and the Retail Leaders Circle Global Forum, 15 October 2025.[14]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 <ref>"Macy's, Inc. Definitive Proxy Statement (Schedule 14A) for fiscal year 2016".U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.31 March 2017.Retrieved 28 September 2026.</ref>
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 <ref>"Our Firm".TJC LP.Retrieved 28 September 2026.</ref>
  3. ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 <ref>"Deming Cup 2012".Columbia Business School, W. Edwards Deming Center.Retrieved 28 September 2026.</ref>
  4. ↑ 4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 4.11 4.12 <ref>"Terry Lundgren".Asia Global Institute, University of Hong Kong.Retrieved 28 September 2026.</ref>
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 <ref>"Terry J. Lundgren Biography".Reference for Business.Retrieved 28 September 2026.</ref>
  6. ↑ 6.00 6.01 6.02 6.03 6.04 6.05 6.06 6.07 6.08 6.09 6.10 <ref>"Terry Lundgren".Money Inc.Retrieved 28 September 2026.</ref>
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 <ref>"Macy's, Inc. Completes Bluemercury Acquisition".Business Wire.9 March 2015.Retrieved 28 September 2026.</ref>
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 <ref>"The Healthcare Foundation Appoints Terrence "Terry" Lundgren to its 2023-2024 Board of Trustees".Sarasota Memorial Healthcare Foundation.28 November 2023.Retrieved 28 September 2026.</ref>
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 9.6 <ref>"The Procter & Gamble Company Definitive Proxy Statement (Schedule 14A)".U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.23 August 2024.Retrieved 28 September 2026.</ref>
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 <ref>"The Procter & Gamble Company Definitive Proxy Statement (Schedule 14A)".U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.28 August 2026.Retrieved 28 September 2026.</ref>
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 <ref>"Kraft Foods Nominates Lundgren and Mesquita to Board of Directors".PR Newswire.15 March 2012.Retrieved 28 September 2026.</ref>
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 <ref>"National Minority Supplier Development Council 2010 Annual Report".National Minority Supplier Development Council.Retrieved 28 September 2026.</ref>
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 13.4 13.5 13.6 13.7 <ref>"Terry Lundgren".Harvard Business School Retail and Luxury Goods Conference (archived).Retrieved 28 September 2026.</ref>
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 14.4 14.5 14.6 <ref>"Former Macy's CEO Terry Lundgren Awarded 2025 Retail Excellence Award from Baker Retailing Center and the RLC Global Forum".Baker Retailing Center, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.15 October 2025.Retrieved 28 September 2026.</ref>
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 15.3 15.4 15.5 15.6 15.7 15.8 <ref>"Business Leaders: Macy's Terry Lundgren".Fox Business.26 June 2012.Retrieved 28 September 2026.</ref>
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 <ref>"Federated Department Stores, Inc. Current Report (Form 8-K)".U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.30 August 2005.Retrieved 28 September 2026.</ref>
  17. ↑ <ref>"The Procter & Gamble Company Annual Report (Form 10-K) for the fiscal year ended 30 June 2025".U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.4 August 2025.Retrieved 28 September 2026.</ref>
  18. ↑ <ref>"Fashion.NYC.2020".New York City Economic Development Corporation.Retrieved 28 September 2026.</ref>
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 <ref>"Carnegie Hall Medal of Excellence Gala Honoring Terry J. Lundgren Raises $4.2 Million".PR Newswire.8 April 2008.Retrieved 28 September 2026.</ref>
  20. ↑ <ref>"Barron's Top 30 CEOs".Barron's.21 March 2015.Retrieved 28 September 2026.</ref>
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