Karen Hoguet has a history of prioritizing shareholders over workers, profits over people, and corporate clout over true accountability.
Finally, Karen’s reputation has finally caught
up to her record.
37 Years as a top Macy's executive.
Karen Hoguet joined Macy’s in 1982 and spent the next 37 years there, serving as Macy's CFO for over two decades. She was a top leader while Macy’s experienced some of retail's most serious scandals: racial profiling, price-fixing, and risky investments.
01
In 2003, the New York Attorney General launched an investigation into Macy's after reports surfaced that the company was racially profiling customers by disproportionately targeting Black and Latino shoppers suspected of stealing. Macy's maintained private detention rooms where customers were held, handcuffed, and interrogated by store security. Hoguet was CFO through the entire controversy.
02
During Hoguet’s time overseeing the company’s finances, Macy's and its sister brands were among department store chains accused of participating in a decade-long cosmetics price-fixing scheme that forced customers to overpay for products. The 2004 settlement resulted in the companies distributing $175 million in free cosmetics to affected customers.
These practices would be unnacceptable to leaders with any ethical standards. For Karen, it's the cost of doing business.
AND THEN THERE’S KROGER…
Kroger has spent years building sophisticated surveillance and pricing structures to squeeze as much profit as it can out of shoppers. From electronic shelf labels that can change prices instantly to cameras hidden in store displays and vast profiles built from shoppers’ data, Kroger is watching its customers and ripping them off.
Despite having promised to switch to better eggs, Kroger continues selling low-quality eggs from filthy, cruel conditions that would make anyone’s stomach churn.
A Kroger executive admitted under oath to gouging prices on milk and eggs above inflation during COVID. Kroger has also been found charging customers higher prices in towns where customers have no other store options.
Karen’s all
wrong.
Karen Hoguet has been on Kroger's board since 2019 and chairs its Finance Committee — the body responsible for overseeing the company's financial strategy, capital allocation, and long-term planning.
Since 2024, Kroger has faced a price gouging investigation, a failed $25 billion merger blocked by the FTC, mass worker strikes across multiple states, and lawsuits for wage theft. Kroger is headed in the wrong direction, and Karen is not the executive to correct its course.
