CGs Strengthen Supply Chain Leadership: Under Armour, McCormick & Lemon Perfect’s New CSOs
Three consumer goods companies — Under Armour, McCormick, and Lemon Perfect — are looking to strengthen their supply chain efforts, starting with changes at the top. The companies have all announced new chief supply chain officers (CSO).
Under Armour has tapped Gap Inc., veteran Shawn Curran to the CSO role. The company reported a “comprehensive search and interview process” for the role, which will oversee end-to-end planning and go-to-market, product sourcing, manufacturing and quality, global vendor base management, distribution and logistics, global customs and trade, and warehousing and sustainability.
Curran brings more than 30 years of retail experience, having spent the majority of his career at Gap Inc., where he was most recently Old Navy’s COO. In that role, he managed 44,000 associates across more than 1,200 stores, focusing on end-to-end operations, and inventory management and sourcing. He has also held titles such as COO and head of global supply chain across all seven of Gap’s bands.
CEO Stephanie Linnartz, who Curran will be reporting to, said Curran’s three decades of experience as a “retail industry powerhouse” comes at a critical time when the company needs to optimize the backbone of its business — the supply chain — “to ensure that our consumers get the right products, at the right price, at the right time.”
During the company’s last earnings call, CFO David Bergman noted the company is investing in several areas of supply chain efficiency, particularly focusing on SKU rationalization and improved segmentation opportunities to drive ASP expansion.
McCormick
Josh Chou took on the CSO role at McCormick & Company in September, responsible for managing the company’s supply chain efforts, including global strategy, planning and customer fulfillment, procurement, manufacturing, distribution, logistics, and engineering.
He brings 30 years of supply chain experience, having previously served across multiple supply chain, manufacturing, and plant leadership roles in Europe, Australia, and North America.
In the company’s latest call with investors, CEO and president Bredan Foley said the company has been challenged with distribution obstacles within its supply chain, but is now seeing improvements.
“Restoration will take some time, and we expect to drive growth as we continue to progress,” said Foley. “As we look at our performance and our trends, we are happy to see total distribution point growth in the third quarter. We also continue to be pleased that our assortment on shelf is more productive than pre-COVID. In addition, we have significant new distribution and innovation that is starting to come online as customers reset their shelves.”
McCormick plans to focus on optimizing pricing to improve effectiveness as part of overall category management efforts.
Lemon Perfect
Backed by hit artist Beyoncé, flavor-enhanced water company Lemon Perfect has tapped prior Spindrift executive David Kimmell as its chief supply chain officer.
Most recently, Kimmel was the chief operating officer at tequila seltzer company Onda. Prior to that, he was SVP of operations for Spindrift for over nine years. He brings more than 20 years of operations experience and 15 in food and beverage.
According to Lemon Perfect, Kimmel is most recognized for streamlining operations, maximizing productivity, and pioneering new systems. CEO Yanni Hufnagel said Kimmell is a “transformational, growth-oriented supply chain leader who will be instrumental in implementing plans for a supply chain with unconstrained capacity and world-class product quality.”
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"His operational wisdom will be key in ensuring that not only our supply chain, but also our entire organization is billion-dollar-ready,” he added.
Earlier this year, Lemon Perfect raised another $36.8 million in its latest funding round, led by Goat Rodeo Capital Management, per an SEC filing. This closely follows a $31 million series A funding backed by artist Beyoncé Knowles-Carter.
