Brands
Adidas
Adidas appointed Alasdhair Willis as chief creative officer (CCO).
The CCO is the lead within the Adidas design community responsible for shaping, defining and shepherding the creative direction for the global brand and its three major labels–Performance, Originals and Sportswear–to deliver a unified Adidas brand experience. Willis will begin his contract at the beginning of April, reporting to executive board member of global brands, Brian Grevy.
Willis has a long-standing connection to Adidas that dates back to 2005, most notably through his role in the concept and development of Adidas by Stella McCartney in partnership with Stella McCartney. Outside of his work with Adidas, he worked as creative director of British fashion heritage brand Hunter and as co-founder of the Wallpaper Magazine.
Forloh
Forloh, a 100 percent Made in America technical outdoor brand, continues its growth trajectory in the U.S. market with the appointment of Nick Skally as vice president (VP) of marketing and e-commerce.
Skally will be leading the marketing and e-comm teams in growing the brand’s awareness and online presence, while optimizing the online consumer experience and driving sales.
He brings over 20 years of corporate experience with brands, including Nordica, Ski and Malibu Boats, and most recently served as a contract brand strategist for several marketing agencies on the East Coast. His recent agency work included consulting on Forloh’s brand and digital marketing strategies, leading to the dedicated marketing and e-commerce VP role.
Launched in 2020, Forloh stands for “For the Love of Hunting” and encapsulates the hunt for any adventure, be it a backcountry powder stash or the perfect wave. Forloh continues to broaden its reach beyond hunting and fishing, offering premium and versatile apparel built with the latest technical fabrics and first-to-market innovations.
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Forloh’s flagship stores are located in its home of Whitefish, Mont., and in Austin, Texas, with an eye toward retail expansion over the next two years.
Kering
At its meeting on Friday, Kering’s board of directors, in coordination with the Appointments and Governance Committee, approved changes in its membership.
These include the resignation of Sophie L’Hélias as independent director, due to her recent appointment to chair the board of another company. L’Hélias was an independent director of Kering since April 29, 2016, and was appointed lead independent director on Feb. 11, 2019.
The company also announced the non-renewal of the term of office of Yseulys Costes as independent director. A member of Kering’s board since May 19, 2010, Costes did not wish to submit her term of office for renewal due to the loss of her status as independent director.
Véronique Weill, Yonca Dervisoglu and Serge Weinberg were appointed as independent directors, pending a vote of shareholders at the annual general meeting to be held on April 28. Weill is chairwoman of CNP Assurances’ board and would bring her experience in corporate governance.
Dervisoglu is vice president of marketing at Google for the Europe/Middle East/Africa region. She would bring her expertise in the fields of new technologies, digital and marketing at the international level. Weinberg is chairman of Sanofi’s board and would bring his experience in management and expertise in finance and corporate governance.
IBrands Global
IBrands Global, an international supply chain platform and brand collective, announced that Carmine Pappagallo, a strategic financial executive with nearly three decades of experience in the fashion industry, will join IBrands as the chief financial officer (CFO).
During Pappagallo’s 15 years at Valentino, he served as CFO and chief operating officer and was instrumental in designing and executing the brand’s strategic plan in the Americas, with a particular focus on retail and e-commerce expansion and international growth in Canada, Mexico, Central and South America, directly or through strategic partners.
As IBrands Global’s CFO, Pappagallo will be executing the financial strategy for the IBrands Global supply chain platform. He will also be implementing supportive processes to assist IBrands’ brands in achieving smooth operations, driving value and increasing profitability, and will join the executive team.
IBrands’ portfolio of companies Bluzen, Bebe, EBY, Alloy Apparel, Pam & Gela and Calibreeze.
Retail
Gap
Gap Inc. established its Power of the Collective Council, an advisory board to create access, drive awareness, and advocate for historically marginalized and vulnerable communities, building upon its efforts to drive systemic change and achieve its 2025 commitments to Create For All, With All.
Aurora James, founder of the Fifteen Percent Pledge, and founder and creative director of Brother Vellies, who was part of the initial vision for this effort, will support its community pillar as the council’s economic inclusion advisor. Leonardo Lawson, known for luxury and fashion brand building, management consulting and executive search, joins the council to support its customer pillar as the creative impact advisor. Lawson has been head of YZY Gap since August 2021.
Amber Cabral, an inclusion strategist, certified coach, speaker and author, joins the council as the employee experience advisor. Since 2018, Gap Inc. has partnered with Cabral to advance internal inclusion efforts through employee workshops, executive coaching and facilitated discussions.
National Retail Federation
The National Retail Federation (NRF) hired technology policy expert Michael Lemon to manage its portfolio of e-commerce and related issues as vice president for legal affairs.
Lemon will manage key issues involving online marketplaces and other digital platforms, stolen and counterfeit goods and intellectual property. He will lead NRF’s member councils on those and other issues and serve as liaison to external groups. As part of NRF’s Office of the General Counsel, he will also lead ongoing legal work and special projects.
Lemon comes to NRF from the Internet Association, where he served as senior director of government affairs and counsel and worked on tech policy in areas such as privacy, IP and trade. Before that, he was senior counsel for the Senate Judiciary Committee, working on antitrust investigations, privacy, technology, IP, immigration and data security.
Shopping Gives
Shopping Gives, an e-commerce platform that creates purposeful and profitable relationships between brands and nonprofits, announced that Nick Lucero is joining its team to lead product development and the expansion of the platform’s analytics systems.
Most recently, Lucero served as vice president of product management and advanced analytics at GoHealth, where he led product, machine learning, revenue modeling and strategic alignment initiatives. Before that, he architected large, web-scale data systems for the South African health insurance company Discovery Limited.
Shopping Gives’ suite of social impact marketing technologies enables a data-driven approach to cause-marketing, empowering brands to create more authentic, higher-converting customer experiences by promoting corporate social responsibility while maintaining cause marketing regulation.
Textiles
PrimaLoft
PrimaLoft Inc., a specialist in advanced material technology, named Manish Jain as senior vice president for technology and development.
Most recently, Jain served as vice president of R&D and technology for Crane Company’s currency division, leading the company’s technology innovation for substrates, as well as security threads, fibers and micro-optics security technology. Previously, he was the head of material science and process technologies for the Albany International Corp. extrusion facility in Homer, N.Y.
Jain is replacing Vanessa Mason, who is retiring this year from her position as senior vice president of engineering. Mason will work with Jain in the coming months to ensure a seamless transition. Following her retirement, PrimaLoft plans to work with Mason as a consultant on specific projects.
PrimaLoft, Inc. is an advanced material technology company specializing in insulations and fabrics based in Latham, N.Y., with offices in Xiamen, China.
Avery Dennison
Avery Dennison Corporation appointed Deon Stander as president and chief operating officer (COO).
Stander has been vice president and general manager of the company’s retail branding and information solutions (RBIS) division since June 2015, where he led a significant transformation of the business. In addition, as Avery Dennison’s sustainability leader, he has served as a key architect in shaping the company’s sustainability strategy and partnering across the company’s businesses to develop and implement an ambitious roadmap.
As COO, Stander will be responsible for the company’s global business operations, with all business unit leaders reporting to him.
Stander joined Avery Dennison in 2007 as part of the acquisition of Paxar, where he had worked since 2003. Avery Dennison is a global materials science company specializing in the design and manufacture of a wide variety of labeling and functional materials. The company employs more than 35,000 employees in more than 50 countries, with sales in 2021 of $8.4 billion.
Logistics
FedEx
FedEx Corp. announced Chris Winton as the company’s next corporate vice president, human resources, succeeding Judy Edge.
Winton will serve as corporate vice president, human resources-elect until he assumes Edge’s full responsibilities on May 1. To ensure a seamless transition, Edge will serve as an executive advisor until her official retirement on July 31.
Winton, whose FedEx career spans nearly 25 years, most recently served as senior vice president of human resources for FedEx Ground in Pittsburgh, where he introduced a new approach in attracting, developing, and retaining talent at all levels through diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. Prior to that, Winton served as vice president, human resources, for FedEx Services.
UPS
UPS announced that Juan Perez, executive vice president (EVP) and chief information and engineering officer, is retiring, as is Scott Price, EVP of international, both effective March 31.
As a result, the company said it was integrating global sales and solutions into the U.S. and International business units. Kate Gutmann, chief sales and solutions officer and EVP of UPS Global Healthcare, will move to a newly created role of EVP and president of international, healthcare and supply chain solutions. These combined business units reported revenues of more than $37 billion in 2021. Gutmann will be responsible for these business units, including their operations and sales teams, as well as global solutions and global sales operations. Her current role will be eliminated as she takes on these broader responsibilities.
Nando Cesarone, EVP and president of U.S., including small package, transportation and the UPS Airline operations, will assume additional responsibility for U.S. sales, as well as the company’s automotive, and global buildings and systems engineering groups.
The company has an external search underway for a new leader for the role of EVP and chief information officer.
Sealand
Maersk appointed Aruna Hussain as managing director of Sealand-a Maersk Company, for Europe and the Mediterranean. Hussain started her career at Maersk in 2000, where she worked in liner and trade roles in Pakistan and the U.K. before moving to Damco in Pakistan.
After several years with Maersk, Hussain left for Australia in 2010 and worked for a few years in the e-commerce and retail space as supply chain and operations director for Australia at the US-based e-tailer Wayfair. In 2016, she moved back to Pakistan and re-joined Damco, first as country head and then as chief operations officer for Middle East. Hussain is currently area managing director for Maersk in Pakistan.
Port of Los Angeles
The Port of Los Angeles appointed Dina Aryan-Zahlan as chief harbor engineer, lead of the port’s engineering division.
Aryan-Zahlan replaces David Walsh, who retired in December. She most recently served as the port’s assistant chief harbor engineer since 2015, where she oversaw the planning, development and design of infrastructure and facilities that support the diverse operations of the nation’s busiest seaport, including wharves, terminals, rail, roadways and public space.
Since 2008, Aryan-Zahlan has led the Port’s LA Waterfront development team and has played a key role in the port’s $1 billion public access infrastructure development program.