2020 Power 50: Ernie Herrman

Ernie Herrman, president & CEO of The TJX Cos., Inc.

Write a Comment

Ernie Herrman

Title: President & CEO
Company: The TJX Cos., Inc.
Location: Framingham
College: Boston College

Herrman might never be mentioned in the same sentence as Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, but there’s one thing the two businessmen undoubtedly share: success in retail at a time when it's increasingly difficult to find.

Amazon and the broader shift toward online shopping has been responsible for much of brick-and-mortar retail’s existential troubles, but Herrman’s TJX Cos. has done more than simply survive it, taking advantage of a scavenger hunt-type experience in stores that can’t be replicated online. Herrman can’t claim to be a risruptor like Bezos can, but he’s led the parent company of T.J.Maxx, Marshalls, HomeGoods and Homesense on a growth trajectory calling for 1,800 new stores, a 50% jump. Growth is also taking place in TJX’s home city of Framingham, where the company spent $120 million last year to buy a 450,000-square-foot office building a few blocks from its headquarters. Herrman has spent most of his career with TJX, joining in 1989, when he began holding various merchandising positions. He was promoted to president in 2011 and in 2016 he replaced one of the state’s best-known executives, Carol Meyrowitz, who had led the company for nine years, a period including the Great Recession. Now it’s Herrman’s time to lead the company through the next recession, which is anticipated to hit the retail industry hard. In the first quarter, the company lost $1.6 billion in profits compared to the year before.

How do you give back to the Central Mass. community? We support numerous charitable organizations including Feeding America, American Red Cross, Save the Children, United Way of Tri-County, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central MA and Metrowest, and the Boys & Girls Clubs of Metrowest and Worcester.

Power 50: View the entire Power 50 Class of 2020