Apparel industry veteran Ed Gribbin has joined Impactiva, the quality assurance and supply chain solutions provider, in the newly-created chief engagement officer role, the company announced Thursday.
Gribbin, who was previously at Alvanon for more than a decade, will lead Impactiva’s global business development team, building new relationships and strengthening existing ones with brands, retailers and manufacturers in the apparel, footwear and accessories space. Jose R. Suarez, Impactiva’s founder and CEO, said Gribbin’s industry experience and entrepreneurial mindset make him the perfect match for the new role.
“Ed has an incredible, deep knowledge of manufacturing, he knows how to build and grow a consulting business, and he maintains amazing relationships with c-suite apparel executives,” Suarez told Sourcing Journal. “He listens to executives from every place in the supply chain and knows every manufacturer’s pain points, so he understands the shifts that our industry is seeing.” Suarez went on to say that Gribbin’s achievements, including building a strong consultancy business at Alvanon and serving on several global leadership boards in the apparel and textile sectors, are the “cherry on top” of Gribbin’s well-rounded list of qualifications.
Impactiva plans to grow its capabilities and customer base considerably over the next three years, Suarez said. The company will also launch new solutions under its new brand Digital Ecosystems to transform the manufacturing shop floor.
“I’ll take on the job of operations and developing the leading-edge IT platform to transform the shop floor,” Suarez explained, “and Ed will handle business development and bring those new solutions to both our existing and future clients.”
In a statement from Impactiva, Gribbin expressed excitement at joining Impactiva for what he called “a true industry transformation.”
“I have been involved in developing and implementing product development and supply chain solutions for years, often lamenting how slow we were, as an industry, to embrace change and innovation,” Gribbin said in the release. “With Impactiva’s philosophy, vision, focus on education and talented team, I feel that I can help to build a brighter, more transparent future not only for brands, retailers and their customers but also for the millions of artisans who make what we wear.”