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Helzberg President Julie Yoakum Moves Over to Signet Jewelers
The addition of Yoakum, who will lead Kay and Peoples, was one of three executive appointments Signet announced Thursday.
Signet Jewelers is the midst of executing a turnaround plan, closing stores and cleaning up its leadership ranks in an effort to combat sliding sales. On Thursday, the retailer announced three more executive moves.
Akron, Ohio—After nearly nine years with Helzberg Diamonds, Julie Yoakum is joining the team at Signet Jewelers.
The jewelry giant announced Thursday afternoon that Yoakum is the new president of Kay Jewelers and Peoples Jewellers, its Canadian jewelry store chain.
Signet said the jewelry industry veteran brings a combination of “operational rigor, entrepreneurial mindset and diamond industry expertise” to the company.
Yoakum spent four years with Blue Nile before joining Helzberg Diamonds as senior vice president and chief merchandising officer in 2017, according to her LinkedIn page.
She was promoted to president of the Berkshire Hathaway-owned jeweler in 2022 when Beryl Raff announced her retirement.
As president and chief brand merchant officer at Helzberg, Yoakum led product development, sourcing, quality assurance, distribution, and digital transformation.
She succeeds Stacee Johnson-Williams, who was serving as interim president of Kay and Peoples following the exit of Bill Brace in March.
Brace was one of a number of executives who parted ways with Signet earlier this year following the appointment of a new CEO, J.K. Symancyk, in late 2024.
Johnson-Williams will remain with Signet as chief merchandise operations and sourcing officer, working to expand the retailer’s cross-brand sourcing capabilities and overseeing the assortment of core categories to fully leverage scale in buying.
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The jewelry giant announced Thursday afternoon that Yoakum is the new president of Kay Jewelers and Peoples Jewellers, its Canadian jewelry store chain.
Signet said the jewelry industry veteran brings a combination of “operational rigor, entrepreneurial mindset and diamond industry expertise” to the company.
Yoakum spent four years with Blue Nile before joining Helzberg Diamonds as senior vice president and chief merchandising officer in 2017, according to her LinkedIn page.
She was promoted to president of the Berkshire Hathaway-owned jeweler in 2022 when Beryl Raff announced her retirement.
As president and chief brand merchant officer at Helzberg, Yoakum led product development, sourcing, quality assurance, distribution, and digital transformation.
She succeeds Stacee Johnson-Williams, who was serving as interim president of Kay and Peoples following the exit of Bill Brace in March.
Brace was one of a number of executives who parted ways with Signet earlier this year following the appointment of a new CEO, J.K. Symancyk, in late 2024.
Johnson-Williams will remain with Signet as chief merchandise operations and sourcing officer, working to expand the retailer’s cross-brand sourcing capabilities and overseeing the assortment of core categories to fully leverage scale in buying.
Also on Thursday, Signet announced that it has a new chief marketing officer, Lisa Laich.
Most recently, Laich oversaw digital and brand marketing for Crocs and HeyDude, a footwear brand owned by Crocs.
With Signet, she will collaborate with the consumer brands to develop creative content and storytelling to drive customer loyalty while delivering the benefits of scale in marketing.
“Julie, Stacee, and Lisa are experienced and highly accomplished industry leaders who believe in Signet’s purpose of ‘Inspiring Love’ and will accelerate our ‘Grow Brand Love’ strategy,” Symancyk said.
“Julie brings over 30 years of experience in the jewelry and apparel industries, with a strong track record of sales growth. Stacee’s decade of leadership at Signet will enable her to quickly advance our core merchandising and leverage scale to drive top-line growth in key categories. And Lisa’s record of marketing excellence and commercial growth across leading retail brands complements the strengths of our team.”
Signet Jewelers is the largest specialty jeweler in North America, ranking No. 1 in both sales and number of stores in National Jeweler’s 2025 State of the Majors issue.
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