Shopko has announced the promotion of Jill Soltau to the position of president and chief merchandising officer. Soltau joined Shopko in 2007 as senior vp/GMM apparel and accessories.

In 2009, she was promoted to evp and chief merchandising officer.

Prior to joining Shopko, Soltau held several senior level positions in merchandising, planning and private brand at Sears and Kohl's department stores. She started her career with Carson Pirie Scott in Milwaukee.

In her expanded role, Soltau will continue to oversee Shopko's merchandising and product development, while assuming responsibility for marketing, e-commerce, inventory management and supply chain departments.  According to the company, her oversight of these areas will allow Soltau to continue her focus on the development and implementation of the company's merchandising strategy across all of its formats — Shopko, Shopko Hometown and Shopko.com — while also uniting branding and marketing strategy under her direction.

"Since joining Shopko, Jill has led the creation of Shopko's highly successful main store merchandising strategy and has been instrumental in the development of the company's growth vehicle, Shopko Hometown," said Mike Bettiga, Shopko interim CEO, and chief operating officer. "Jill is a committed, driven, and enthusiastic leader.  Her promotion to president ensures that our merchandising and marketing strategies, as well as our business goals, are kept in the forefront and will continue to be successfully executed.  We are excited to have her take an expanded leadership role at Shopko."