Ron Johnson is the CEO of J. C. Penney and was the Senior Vice President of Retail Operations at Apple Inc. He pioneered the concept of the Apple Retail Stores and the Genius Bar. Ron joined Apple in January 2000. He previously worked as vice president of merchandising for Target.
Under Johnson's direction, Apple's retail stores achieved a record level of growth, exceeding a billion dollars in annual sales within two years of their debut, besting the previous record set by The Gap. Apple today operates over 300 stores, including outlets in Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, The United Kingdom, The United States, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Japan.[1] Apple is expanding their retail presence aggressively, and is expected to open a store in Berlin and Barcelona in the near future.
Johnson received his M.B.A. from Harvard and his Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Stanford University.
On October 31, 2007 Johnson exercised 700,000 stock options in Apple stock with a strike price of $23.72, and then sold the stock later that day for $185 to $185.21 apiece netting him a USD $112m profit. It has been reported that Johnson has earned $400 million during his seven and a half years at Apple.[2]