Brands
Levi Strauss
Levi Strauss & Co. announced that Katia Walsh will join the company as senior vice president and chief strategy and artificial intelligence officer, effective April 29.
In a role designed to help the company translate data analytics into meaningful decisions that drive business value and competitive advantage, Walsh will be responsible for building the data, analytics and artificial intelligence enablers to support Levia Strauss’s global business across innovation incubation, new business models and strategic growth initiatives. She will report to Chip Bergh, president and chief executive officer, and will be a member of the global leadership team.
Walsh joins Levi Strauss from Vodafone, where she was the company’s first chief data and analytics officer. She is a member of Unicredit’s transformation and innovation advisory board and River Island’s digital advisory board, as well as strategy advisor to Fellowship.ai, a free data science training program.
Splendid
Splendid, a division of Delta Galil Industries, named Holly Shapiro as creative director.
In her new role, Shapiro will succeed Pamela Protzel-Scott, who has served as vice president of design and creative director of Splendid for more than 17 years. Protzel-Scott will serve as a consultant as needed to insure a smooth transition.
Shapiro previously served as creative director of private brands for Gilt Groupe, responsible for a number of categories including apparel, footwear, swimwear and accessories. Prior to that, she designed for Calypso St. Barth, Haute Hippie, Martin + Osa, Liz Claiborne, Laundry by Shelli Segal and Dana Buchman.
Starting as a premium T-shirt line, Splendid now has reach in almost every category, all of which highlight the brand’s use of soft and luxurious fabrics.
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Footwear
Asics
Asics announced that Koichiro Kodama will replace Gene McCarthy as president and CEO of the Asics America Group segment. McCarthy had led the Americas since 2015.
In February 2018, Kodama was appointed vice president of corporate strategy in the Asics America segment. Other appointments announced by Asics America include Richard Sullivan to executive vice president of sales, categories and marketing; Craig Gillan to vice president of operations and Paul Ljucovic to vice president of finance.
The brand also announced a new category structure, separating its products into three areas: Performance Running, Core Performance Sports and Sport Style.
Camtrade
Camtrade LLC, parent company of Soft Comfort and Secret Celebrity women’s footwear brands, appointed Gene DeCristofaro as president of the company. In this new role, DeCristofaro will oversee Camtrade’s sales, and product design and development areas.
Prior to joining Camtrade, DeCristofaro spent over 35 years in executive management positions, most recently with The Rockport Company, as well as with Clarks Companies North America, Bostonian, Earth Shoes and Dry Dock Inc.
Sustainability
Cradle to Cradle
The board of directors of the Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute named Peter Templeton as its new president and CEO. He has held the role in an interim capacity since September.
Templeton previously directed organization-wide efforts to increase the reach and impact of market transformation activities around the world as senior vice president of the U.S. Green Building Council, leading the execution of strategic plans and partnerships designed to expand local capacity and advance smart, healthy, socially responsible and environmentally sustainable buildings and communities. He also served as the founding president of Green Business Certification Inc., where he led third-party project certification and professional credentialing in more than 150 countries and territories for the LEED green building rating systems and other respected environmental leadership standards.
Dr. Paul T. Anastas, Scot Horst and Dr. Christine Lemaitre have also been appointed to the Institute board. Anastas is a professor in Environmental Health Sciences and holds the Teresa and H. John Heinz III Chair in Chemistry for the Environment at Yale University.
Horst previously served as founding CEO of Arc Skoru Inc. and chief product officer of the U.S. Green Building Council. Lemaitre is CEO of the German Sustainable Building Council.
The Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute is a non-profit organization that administers the Cradle to Cradle Certified Product Standard, a guidance-system for assessing and continually improving products based upon five sustainability characteristics: material health, material reuse, renewable energy, water stewardship and social fairness.
Technology
To drive innovation, leadership and strong customer relationships, Gerber Technology announced that industry veteran Ketty Pillet will join the company as vice president of global marketing to support the company’s aggressive product release schedule for 2019. Pillet was previously worldwide marketing director of fashion and apparel for Lectra.
Gerber Technology delivers software and automation solutions that help apparel and industrial customers improve their manufacturing and design processes and more effectively manage and connect the supply chain. It serves 78,000 customers in 134 countries. Based in Connecticut, Gerber Technology is owned by AIP, a New York-based, global private equity firm specializing in the technology sector and has more than $3 billion assets under management.
Textiles
Cotton Incorporated
Cotton Incorporated elected Bernie Jordan, a cotton grower from Yazoo City, Miss., to serve as two-year term as board chairman.
Jordan has been a director on the Cotton Incorporated board for more than 21 years. Since 1983, he has been co-owner and partner of Jordan Farms, a diversified row crop farm with interests in Yazoo and Humphreys Counties, as well as Jordan Land & Timber. He is also co-owner and president of Yazoo Planters Gin Co.
Jordan is a director and treasurer of the Mississippi Boll Weevil Management Corporation, and serves on the boards of a range of regional cotton organizations.