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GameStop (GME) hires former Kohl's exec Nir Patel as new COO

Patel will pick up the Chief Operating Officer position at GameStop from Jenna Owens, who left the company in October 2021.

TJ Denzer

May 16, 2022 10:10 AM

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GameStop has made some major moves in its executive leadership this week. The Chief Operating Officer role has been sitting open since former COO Jenna Owens left the company late last year. Now it seems former Kohl’s and Belk executive Nir Patel will be joining GameStop to fill that gap as its new COO, effective on May 31, 2022.

GameStop announced its appointment of Nir Patel in the COO role in a press release on its investor relations website on May 16, 2022. According to the announcement, Patel will begin operating actively in the role starting on May 31, 2022. He replaces former COO Jenna Owens, who left GameStop late in 2021, only a few months after being appointed to the role. Patel comes from a long line of executive roles and leadership in retail chains. Most recently he was the chief executive officer of Belk until 2021, but had been in different high-level roles at the company since 2016. Before that Patel had held senior executive roles at the likes of Kohl’s and Lands’ End clothing retailers.

The buzz around GameStop and GME stock has been one of the most interesting stories in investment in the last couple of years. After a meteoric rise from an absolutely abysmal single-digit dollar state, it’s value skyrocketed in early 2021. The stock has ebbed off a bit since the absolute height of its craze, but it still hasn’t drooped anywhere near the lows that once left many convinced the company would go bankrupt. In fact, there was recently multiple halts on trading as GME stock saw a spike in volatile activity last week.

With Nir Patel joining the GameStop executive staff in continuing to reform the company, it will be interesting to see what comes next. Stay tuned as we continue to watch for further GameStop and GME news and updates.

TJ Denzer

Senior News Editor

TJ Denzer is a player and writer with a passion for games that has dominated a lifetime. He found his way to the Shacknews roster in late 2019 and has worked his way to Senior News Editor since. Between news coverage, he also aides notably in livestream projects like the indie game-focused Indie-licious, the Shacknews Stimulus Games, and the Shacknews Dump. You can reach him at tj.denzer@shacknews.com and also find him on Twitter @JohnnyChugs.