Shares of Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) are in focus in morning trading after the teen retailer named its chief merchandising officer as its next chief executive.

CEO APPOINTMENT: Abercrombie & Fitch said on Wednesday that Fran Horowitz, the company’s president and chief merchandising officer, has been promoted to chief executive officer of the teen apparel retailer. Horowitz, who will also join Abercrombie’s board, replaces Michael Jefferies, who stepped down in 2014 after over two decades at the helm. Additionally, Abercrombie said Chief Financial Officer Joanne Crevoiserat has been promoted to Chief Operating Officer. Crevoiserat will continue her current roles as she takes on the COO role. Arthur Martinez will continue in the role of executive chairman and the Office of the Chairman, which has been leading the company since December 2014, has been dissolved.

WHAT’S NOTABLE: Horowitz’s appointment as CEO will fill the top role that Jefferies vacated in 2014 when he was ousted by the company. Martinez commented yesterday that Horowitz’s appointment “reflects the leadership she has shown in the turnaround of Hollister, our efforts to provide a compelling, customer-focused shopping experience at both of our brands and, while we have more work to do, the repositioning of the Abercrombie & Fitch brand.” Martinez also said he is confident that “as CEO, she is the right person to lead the company forward.” On January 30, Abercrombie & Fitch named Will Smith as Chief Marketing Officer, responsible for all brand, creative and digital marketing across the company. In November, Abercrombie & Fitch posted its third consecutive quarter of declining same-store sales. At the time, Martinez said the “challenges of the brand are deep and long-standing,” adding that “all of this is complicated by a very challenging environment.” Mall-based retailers like Abercrombie & Fitch have been hurt by the increasing popularity of fast-fashion retailers like Zara, Forever 21 and H&M, as well as an increase in online shopping. Abercrombie said in November that it expects fourth quarter SSS to be “challenging,” but “modestly improved” from the third quarter. Two analysts downgraded Abercrombie & Fitch in early January, with Jefferies analyst Randal Konik saying that internal turnaround efforts are progressing slower than expected and not showing in top-line results and Oppenheimer analyst Anna Andreeva saying consensus estimates have further downside as the brands “remain in transition amidst increasingly more competitive teen landscape.”