Jenny Ming

Jenny Ming (born 1955)[2] is a retail fashion industry executive who served as the president and chief executive officer of Charlotte Russe Holding Inc. from 2009 to 2019.[3] From 1999 to 2006, Ming was president of Old Navy, a $6.7 billion business segment of Gap Inc., where she oversaw all aspects of Old Navy and its 900 retail clothing stores in the United States and Canada.[4]

Ming was born in China and raised in San Francisco. In 1978, she earned a bachelor of arts in clothing merchandising with a minor in marketing from San José State University.[5] In May 2012, Ming delivered the keynote address at San José State University's spring commencement ceremony and received an honorary doctor of humane letters from the university.[6][7]

Ming's career began in management at a Mervyn's department store before she was personally recruited by Gap CEO Millard Drexler in 1986.[8] Ming joined the San Francisco-based retailer as a buyer, and quickly worked her way up through the Gap management ranks, becoming a vice president after three years on the job.

In 1994, Drexler assigned Ming to a new executive team that would oversee a planned Gap spin-off, to be called Old Navy. In 1996, Ming became executive vice president of merchandising for the chain and was named president in March 1999.[9]

Business Week magazine named Ming one of the nation’s top-25 managers in 2000. She also appeared in Fortune magazine’s 2003 and 2004 lists of the 50 most powerful women in American business.[10]