South Coast Plaza Gets New Marketing Director : Retail: Jan Roberts, top public relations executive at Neiman Marcus, will start her job Feb. 18.

The top public relations executive for the Neiman Marcus Co. department store chain was named Monday as the new marketing director of South Coast Plaza, the West’s largest mall in terms of annual sales.

Jan Roberts, a native Texan who worked her way up from store clerk to vice president at the 24-store chain based in Dallas, will start Feb. 18. She replaces Maura Eggan, who left South Coast Plaza last June to accept a job in Great Britain.

“It’s an exciting opportunity for me,” Roberts said in a telephone interview. “South Coast Plaza has a reputation as the premiere retailing destination.”

Roberts, 40, said she will handle the plaza’s publicity, advertising and marketing. In the process, she said she plans to carry out a mandate to polish the center’s image.

The Costa Mesa mall reported taxable sales of $672.1 million in 1989, the most recent annual figure available. The mall’s sales were more than 50% higher than the next highest-selling mall in Southern California, Del Amo Fashion Center in Torrance.

Though well aware of South Coast Plaza’s reputation in the industry, Roberts got a first-hand look at the mall during a trip to Orange County to visit the Neiman Marcus store at Fashion Island in Newport Beach.

Plaza General Manager Jim Henwood said Roberts “brings an understanding of excellence and uniqueness” because of her background in specialty retailing.

With a master’s degree in education from the University of Texas in Austin, Roberts said she hadn’t planned on a career in retailing. But she said she grew fond of retailing while working as a sales clerk for Neiman Marcus 12 years ago.

“It gives you the customer perspective,” she said. “The most important time in retailing is that last 2 feet between the customer and the sales associate.”

From there, she moved into Neiman Marcus’ public relations department. She was manager of corporate public relations from 1981 to 1986 and director of corporate publicity and special events from 1986 to 1987 before being named to her present position.