(Reuters) - J.C. Penney Co Inc on Thursday said it named an outside executive with experience in reducing costs to be its new finance chief.

Ken Hannah, who will start on Monday and report to Chief Operating Officer Mike Kramer, was most recently president of solar energy at MEMC Electronics Materials, where his responsibilities included simplifying the organizations and cutting costs.

Earlier in his career he held finance positions at The Home Depot Inc and Boeing .

Kramer has been interim CFO since April 13, when Michael Dastugue left as CFO after only 15 months.

(Reporting by Phil Wahba; Editing by Bernard Orr)