Name Jan Kniffen | ||
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Education University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, Saint Louis University, Lindenwood University | ||
J.C. Penney Is A Buy
Jan Rogers Kniffen (born 1948) is a consultant to investors in retail companies and a former retail executive.
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Early life
Kniffen grew up in Cairo, Illinois, at the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, the place where the steamboat runs over the raft in Mark Twain's novel "Huckleberry Finn," near the shore of the northernmost bayou on the North American Continent, and in the shadow of Bald Knob Mountain, the easternmost peak in the Ozark range.
Kniffen majored in English at the University of Illinois and received his B. S. in Journalism from Southern Illinois University. Kniffen received his MBA in Finance from Lindenwood University. Kniffen did his doctoral work in Finance at St. Louis University.
Business
After serving as an Air Force Officer during the Vietnam War, Kniffen joined ACF Industries in St. Louis, Missouri, a Fortune 300 Company at the time. After Carl Icahn acquired ACF in 1982, Kniffen became Assistant Treasurer of ACF reporting to the Treasurer of Icahn and Co. For two years, he did acquistions and divestitures with Carl Icahn's organization. In 1984, Kniffen was responsible for issuing the largest junk bond ever issued at the time, $460 million with a yield of 16 2⁄3%.
In 1985, Kniffen joined May Department Stores Company, became vice president and treasurer in 1986 and SVP Finance and Treasurer in 1991. Kniffen was responsible for Treasury, Tax, Risk Management, Investor Relations and Public relations, and managed the $3 billion pension, profit sharing, and foundation portfolio; he also chartered and was president of the three May National Banks, and president of the Leadville and Snowdin insurance subsidiaries of May. Kniffen was named the best Investor Relations Officer in American Retailing by Institutional Investor Magazine in 1991 The following year Kniffen was named one of the three most responsive Investor Relations Officers in public companies in the U. S. In 1996 Kniffen surprised Wall Street with a $200 million, 30-year debt issue "to take advantage of recent retail sales momentum...to issue debt before rates go up," Kniffen spent twenty years as a senior executive at The May Department Stores, a company operating Lord & Taylor, Fox, Hecht's, May-Cohen's, Robinson's of Florida, Sibley's, Horne's, Kaufman's, Marshall Field's, Famous Barr, ZCMI, Goldwater's, May D&F, The Denver, Meier and Frank, Robinson's,Thalhimer's, May Company Cleveland, May Company California, May Company Akron, Strauss, Sycamore, Loehmann's, as well as developing, owning and operating 26 super regional shopping malls. Kniffen was also responsible for May's acquisition of Associated Dry Goods, Foley's, Filene's, Zion's Cooperative Mercantile Institution, Strawbridge's, and the divestitures of Venture, Caldor, and Payless ShoeSource, now Collective Brands.
In 2005, Kniffen founded J. Rogers Kniffen WWE, "a New York-based equity research and financial management firm." J Rogers Kniffen WWE, is a firm that consults with long funds, mutual funds, hedge funds, and private equity firms as they make decisions regarding investments in retailers. In 2016, Kniffen launched 'RetailTalk with Jan,' a quarterly panel discussion featuring leading figures in retail and the retail real estate industry discussing retail trends, events in retailing, and the future of retailing. Kniffen is self-described as the "country's leading expert on retailing."
Kniffen frequently points out (to anyone who will listen) that he stocked his first shelf in 1964, attended the grand opening of Walmart store number 26 (the first Walmart outside of Arkansas) in 1968 and the grand opening of the first Walmart SuperCenter in 1988 (by then he was already a VP at a major retailer), as proof of a lifelong dedication to what is happening in retail.