Joel Newman has been appointed chief operating officer at Kenneth Cole. He recently held the positions of chief operating officer and executive vice president of finance and operations at Tommy Hilfiger. Newman has 40 years of experience in the retail and wholesale industries. Before his 12-year run at Tommy Hilfiger he was at Saks Fifth Avenue and its parent company, Batus Retail, where he was named president and chief operating officer of Kohl’s Department Stores; He was also president of Calvin Klein Industries.