Jones Apparel Group Inc. (NYSE: JNY) said that its chief executive Peter Bonaparte resigned on Thursday and the company promoted its current operations officer, Wesley Card, to the fill the vacancy.

Card, a 17-year veteran of the company, will take over the office effective immediately, the company said.

The Board of Directors knows Wes well and joins me in expressing its confidence in Wes's ability to lead Jones to a successful future, said founder and chairman of the board, Sidney Kimmel.

Boneparth quit after the company said that it would not renew his contract, which was set to expire in 2 years. The former investment banker who took the role in May of 2002 struggled to increase sales of the apparel maker.

Jones, which owns brands Nine West and Anne Klein, among others, built it itself on providing fashion lines at moderate prices to department stores. Recent consolidation among department stores, however, has forced it to exit or sell some of its moderate-priced lines by the end of this year.

The company also named John T. McClain as chief financial officer. He was most recently chief accounting officer at Avis Budget Group.