Brett Trent, with the company since August 2014, becomes rue21’s chief marketing officer.

An e-commerce veteran lands a promotion as teen apparel retailer rue21 Inc. makes changes at the top of its organization.

Rue21, No. 453 in the Internet Retailer 2016 Top 500 Guide, on Tuesday named Brett Trent its first chief marketing officer, promoting him to the position from chief digital officer. In his new role, he’ll be responsible, in part, for linking the retailer’s online and offline shopping channels so shoppers have a consistent experience with the brand.

Trent joined rue21 in August 2014 as the retailer’s senior vice president of digital retail. During his time with the company, rue21 has grown its online sales to an Internet Retailer-estimated $35 million in 2015, up 150% from $14 million in 2014, according to Top500Guide.com. Prior to joining rue21, Trent was vice president of e-commerce at Dress Barn (parent company Ascena Retail Group is No. 76 in the Top 500) and Goody’s (parent company Stage Stores Inc. is No. 439).

Trent isn’t the only executive at rue21 promoted to a newly created position. Dirk Armstrong is named chief operating officer from senior vice president. His role will be focused on driving revenue and efficiencies within the company’s more than 1,200 stores.

“We have clear goals in 2017 to transform the customer experience and girls’ merchandise offering, while being completely customer-centric, and we could not have two better leaders on our team supporting this transformation,” interim CEO Keith McDonough said.

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Trent and Armstrong’s promotions come three months after CEO Bob Fisch left the retailer, replaced on an interim basis by McDonough. The company in October gave no reason for Fisch’s departure. At that time, rue21 brought on Elizabeth Hodges to be its chief customer officer, a new position. In a release announcing Trent and Armstrong’s promotions, the retailer says Trent and Hodges will work closely to improve the overall customer experience.

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