J. C. Penney Company, Inc. appointed Debra Berman as senior vice president of marketing, effective Aug. 2. In this role, Berman will be responsible for leading the company's marketing efforts with a focus on revitalizing the jcpenney brand, building its brand architecture and communicating the jcpenney brand promise. Berman will join the company's executive board, reporting to Myron E. (Mike) Ullman, III, chief executive officer for jcpenney.

“Debra Berman is an enormously talented marketing executive, and her desire to join the jcpenney team is a testament to our brand and its potential,” said Myron E. (Mike) Ullman, III, chief executive officer for jcpenney. “Her broad experience and success as a marketing strategist for major consumer brands make her the ideal leader to help us continue to reconnect with our core customer through effective promotions and campaigns that will increase excitement and loyalty now and over the long term.”

Berman said, “There is huge opportunity to remind America's families why it is so great to shop at jcpenney while attracting new customers to the brand. This can be achieved through targeted campaigns that creatively highlight our unique and authentic combination of style, quality and value. I am eager to begin working with Mike and the entire team to restore jcpenney's place as an iconic destination for customers for important occasions and all the times in between.”

Berman comes to jcpenney from Kraft Foods Group, where she was vice president, marketing strategy and engagement, directing global brand strategy and customer engagement for all Kraft-owned brands and leading Kraft's marketing communications Center of Excellence.

Prior to joining Kraft in 2009, Berman spent nearly five years as strategic planning director at DDB Advertising, and before that held senior strategy planning roles at Sterling Brands, Young & Rubicam and Swander Pace and Company. Earlier in her career, she progressed through roles of increasing responsibility at advertising firms JWT, Saatchi & Saatchi and Lintas.