Jennifer A. Lewellyn, a 22-year retail veteran with experience in both managing healthy stores and liquidating underperforming locations, has joined Tiger Group as associate director of retail operations.
Based in Pittsburgh, Lewellyn will provide operational input and data to Tiger’s retail dealmaker team during the due-diligence phase. She will work on special projects, write appraisal reports and provide on-site leadership and executive representation.
In the asset-based lending sector, Lewellyn’s retail consulting experience has included multiple collaborations with Tiger Group. Lewellyn was part of the Tiger team that closed 95 Francesca’s stores beginning in 2020, and she co-led the closures of more than 600 GNC stores across North America. In addition, Lewellyn served as regional lead consultant on the closure of 95 Stein Mart stores, a process that exceeded recovery expectations.
“Managing teams and projects all over the United States and Canada, Jennifer has a strong track record of successfully implementing efficient strategies for retail store closures and liquidations,” Michael McGrail, COO of Tiger Group, said. “She understands every aspect of the process—from staffing up and running the sales to executing the final store closing. In addition, our appraisal clients will benefit from Jennifer’s years of experience in the retail industry. We’re excited to welcome her to the Tiger team.”
With respect to retail management, Lewellyn’s most-recent position, from 2017 to 2020, included overseeing a 53-store region for Variety Wholesalers’ Roses Stores, where she supervised five multi-unit managers, five corporate trainers and a total of 1,300 associates. The division posted an annual retail volume of approximately $150 million. Her achievements in this role included growing both sales and profits on a year-over-year basis, reducing inventory shortages and developing and implementing merchandising documentation for a total of 400 stores.
The Warren, OH native started her retail career in Pittsburgh as a district manager for Value City Department Stores. Over the next eight years, she rose to become regional manager, overseeing daily operations of 16 department stores with more than 700 employees and sales of $179 million. Lewellyn ran internal performance audits, set operational and merchandise standards, managed inventory and worked closely with merchants as well as associates at the regional and store level.
From 2009 to 2014, Lewellyn served as district operations manager for a 10-store division of Sears Holdings Corp./Kmart. She oversaw more than 400 employees and reduced expenses year-over-year for five years. Her locations consistently ranked in the top 10 for comp-store sales.
“Collaborative and results-driven, Jennifer excels at meeting or exceeding sales targets and has a talent for building, growing and motivating large teams,” Arnold L. Jacobs, managing director at Tiger Group, said. “She knows how to solve problems under the tightest of deadlines and is comfortable working with people at all levels of an organization. We’re eager and excited to see what Jennifer will accomplish in her new role.”
