Gap Exec Resigns as Sales Slide

Gap Inc., the largest U.S. clothing chain, said Thursday that Julie Rosen had resigned as executive vice president of merchandising for its Gap brand, which has struggled with declining sales for more than a year.

Former Gap executives Amy Hennisch, 37, and Lisa Salamone, 50, will fill in temporarily for Rosen, 40, while Gap looks for her replacement, spokesman Greg Rossiter said.

Stacy Pak, an analyst at Prudential Equity Group, said the change was due. The “Gap division will have a whole new team in place, thus creating the opportunity for improvement, something we think is badly needed,” she wrote to clients.

Shares of Gap fell 29 cents to $17.86. They dropped 16% in 2005.

Sales at Gap, which also owns Banana Republic and Old Navy, have declined in 17 of the last 19 months at stores open at least a year.

Rosen had been with the Gap brand since 2004 and previously served in merchandising roles at the Banana Republic chain during her 14 years with the company, Gap spokeswoman Robin Carr said. Her duties at Gap included brand and product marketing as well as store displays.