Why CEO Michelle Gass is thriving at Levi’s after stumbling at Kohl’s

In today’s CEO Daily: Fortune’s Phil Wahba interviews Levi’s CEO Michelle Gass.

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Good morning. Yesterday, I chatted with Levi Strauss CEO Michelle Gass to ask her why she thinks her strategy is working so well, a question on many minds given that similar success eluded her when she was CEO at Kohl’s. Her conclusion: the Levi’s gig plays to all the strengths she’s developed over her long career, and the denim clothier was at the right place for her to take the reins.

We spoke the day after Levi’s reported a stellar first quarter in which net revenue rose 14%—and those results may have quieted Gass’s critics for good. When Gass was first announced as Levi’s president in 2022—spending a year under the tutelage of CEO predecessor Chip Bergh before taking over a year later—many in the peanut gallery pointed to her previous struggles at Kohl’s as reason for skepticism.

But two years in, Gass’s tenure at Levi’s has been an unequivocal win. Revenue grew 3% in her first year, then 4% in 2025 and growth is now accelerating. Shares rose 11% on Wednesday and have almost doubled in the last year. And Levi’s is very much in the cultural zeitgeist: its 517 women’s jeans have been featured prominently in Love Story, the fictionalized TV series chronicling the Carolyn Bessette–JFK Jr. saga. 

Same executive, same human being, but two different outcomes. What gives? 

For one thing,........

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