Rothy’s names new CEO, president as co-founders step down from the roles
Rothy’s now has an all-female-led senior management team.
The sustainable footwear and handbag brand appointed board member and seasoned retail executive Jenny Ming as CEO. She succeeds company co-founder Stephen Hawthornthwaite, who is transitioning to the role of board chair.
Ming is best known for her tenure at Gap Inc., which she joined in 1986 and where she held several executive positions, including serving on the founding team of Old Navy, where she was president from 1993 to 2006. Ming went on to serve as president and CEO of Charlotte Russe from 2009 to 2019. She is on the boards of Levi Strauss & Co. and Kaiser Foundation Health Plan & Hospitals, and has served as independent director on Rothy's Board since June of 2022.
In other changes, Rothy’s CFO and COO Dayna Quanbeck will take on the expanded role as president, succeeding company co-founder Roth Martin. Martin is taking on the role of chief creative and innovation officer.
Quanbeck, who will continue to oversee the deployment of growth capital and manage Rothy's finance, logistics, data analytics, retail, international and technology divisions, joined Rothy’s in 2019. Prior to that, she served as VP of Finance, and CFO of Charlotte Russ.
Rothy's leadership transition comes as the company is looking to grow its footprint. Founded in 2012 and launched online in 2016, Rothy's soon developed a fast-following for its signature flat crafted from single-use plastic bottles. It has diverted over 166 million bottles from landfills to date.
In addition to its e-commerce platform, the company operates more than 20 retail stores and has a footprint in 19 countries. It entered wholesaling for the first time in 2023. Rothy’s anticipates opening an additional 10 stores in 2024 while expanding into select wholesale partnerships and continuing broader global expansion.
"After years spent laying the foundation for long-term profitable growth, we can confidently say that now is the right moment to empower our talented team to take Rothy's into the future,” stated Hawthornthwaite. “Jenny is a seasoned operator with an exceptional track record in scaling global retail businesses. Coupled with Dayna's deep knowledge of our business, having the two lead the next chapter at Rothy's is a major win for our company, customers and team."
Ming and Quanbeck's appointments round out Rothy's female-led executive team, including chief product and merchandising officer Heather Archibald, chief marketing officer Jamie Gersch, chief supply chain officer Heather Howard, chief legal officer and corporate secretary Marie Satterfield and senior VP of people Michelle Velasquez Pulido.
"After decades spent in retail, it's rare to encounter a company with such tremendous opportunity ahead,” said Ming. “Roth and Stephen have created an exceptional product, cultivated a fiercely loyal community and built a vertically-integrated model unlike anything else in the industry. I have enjoyed working alongside them on the board for the last 18 months, and am honored to step into this role at such an exciting time in the company's journey. In partnership with Dayna, I look forward to taking Rothy's brand, mission and product offering to new heights."
In December 2021, Alpargatas S.A., the Brazilian lifestyle brand that owns Havaianas, made an investment of $200 million in primary capital followed by an offering to acquire approximately $275 million of Rothy's shares from current stockholders, resulting in a post-investment valuation of $1 billion.
Rothy's is headquartered in San Francisco, with offices in New York, Dongguan and Shanghai, China.