Vuori expands C-suite with new hires, including a Starbucks veteran

A Southern California-inspired activewear brand has expanded its senior leadership team.

Vuori had added three new c-suite positions; chief people officer, chief information officer, and general counsel & corporate secretary. It also named a new COO.

Launched in 2015 as a direct-to-consumer men’s brand, Vuori subsequently expanded its offerings to include a women's line and also entered brick-and-mortar. The company operates 30 stores, with an upcoming location slated to open at Mall of America, Bloomington, Minn. It also has moved outside the United States, with e-commerce sites in Canada, Australia and across Europe.  In 2022, the brand said it planned to open 100-plus U.S. stores during the next five years.

The four new executives, all of whom are already on the job, are detailed below:

• Jen Frisch has been tapped as Vuori’s first-ever chief people officer. She previously spent nearly 16 years at Starbucks, most recently (2018-2023) as senior VP, human resources where she provided human resources leadership for over 220,000 employees across the North American retail organization in over 17,000 stores.

Frisch’s responsibilities at Vuori include leading significant hiring initiatives to meet the brand’s growth plan across both headquarters and retail stores and defining the brand's people strategy, values and culture as Vuori scales and expands into new geographies. 

• Bryan Muehlberger joins Vuori as the brand's first chief information officer, overseeing all digital and information technology for the company.

He previously served as CIO of The Beachbody Company, a leader in health and fitness combining fitness, nutrition, and support. He also served as the CIO of Redbull.

• Libby Stockstill was named Vuori’s first general counsel and corporate secretary. Previously, from 2018 to 2022, she was the VP and global general counsel at Vans where she was responsible for elevating, scaling, and optimizing the brand's global legal function and serving as a senior leader of VF Corp.

Prior to Vans, Stockstill served as the general counsel (North America) of Billabong and its portfolio of brands.

• Hugh Garrity has been named COO.  Previously, he served as head of global operations at Yeti, where he spearheaded the brand's global operations throughout the pandemic while establishing a new vision for end-to-end supply chain.

At Vuori, Garrity will focus on building pillars of sustainable scale across systems, tools and personnel to unlock the company’s growth, evolving the brand's sourcing, fulfillment and logistics footprint to build agility and redundancy into the operations, transforming planning structures, processes and organization while leveraging enterprise-wide technology to efficiently scale, and embedding ESG initiatives.

"We are excited to announce the hire of these executives as we continue to expand the Vuori brand and support our global growth," said Vuori founder and CEO Joe Kudla. "Libby, Hugh, Jen and Bryan will be an integral part of our senior leadership team going forward. These executives have impressive backgrounds, combined with a unique passion for what they do that will contribute greatly to Vuori's vision for the future.”

In October of 2021, Vuori received a $400 million investment by the SoftBank Vision Fund 2, which valued the brand at $4 billion.

“These key positions will help the brand to continue its global growth while providing enhanced infrastructure capabilities, leadership on key initiatives, and elevated performance and operations,” the company.

Vuori hired former Yeti executive Hugh Garrity to serve as its Chief Operating Officer. In this role, Garrity will focus on building pillars of sustainable scale across systems, tools and personnel to unlock Vuori's future growth, evolving the brand's sourcing, fulfillment and logistics footprint to build agility and redundancy into the operations, transforming planning structures, processes and organization while leveraging enterprise wide technology to efficiently scale, and embedding ESG initiatives throughout Vuori's value stream. Previously, Garrity served as the Head of Global Operations at Yeti where he spearheaded the brand's global operations throughout the pandemic, while establishing a new vision for end-to-end supply chain.

Additionally,. In this role, Stockstill will establish and lead Vuori's legal department, building the function from the ground up to holistically support the brand as it evolves from now to next and help shape the brand as it rapidly grows and scales. Previously, Stockstill was the Vice President & Global General Counsel at Vans where she was responsible for elevating, scaling, and optimizing the brand's global legal function and serving as a senior leader of VF Corporation. Stockstill also advised the company through periods of accelerated growth, digital transformation and unprecedented global volatility. Previous to her time with Vans, Stockstill served as the General Counsel (North America) of Billabong and its portfolio of brands. Prior to that, she practiced corporate law at Latham & Watkins LLP, representing public and private companies on M&A, securities and governance matters and advising her clients through transformational events and pivotal moments in their corporate history.

Vuori appointed Jen Frisch to serve as its first Chief People Officer. In this role, Frisch will be responsible for leading significant hiring initiatives to meet Vuori's growth plan across both Headquarters and Retail stores and defining the brand's people strategy, values and culture as Vuori scales and expands into new geographies. Before joining Vuori, she served as Senior Vice President, Partner Resources for Starbucks Coffee Company. Within this role she provided human resources leadership for over 220,000 employees across the North American Retail organization in over 17,000 stores including both Company Operated and Licensed Stores.

Lastly, Bryan Muehlberger joins Vuori as the brand's first Chief Information Officer. In this role, Muehlberger will oversee all Digital & Information Technology for the company, including Digital Omni-channel Commerce, including VuoriClothing.com and Retail Store Technology,, as well as implementing many new technologies for Vuori, such as a Modern ERP platform, Headless E-commerce solution, New Finance & Operations Planning tools and a new Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) platform. Prior to joining Vuori, Muehlberger previously served as the CIO of The Beachbody Company, a worldwide leader in health and fitness combining fitness, nutrition, and support. Bryan also served as the CIO of Redbull where he focused on transforming the brand's information technology department into a world-class business partner enabling the company to continue its rapid growth. Currently, Muehlberger sits on the advisory board for Bloomfilter.app, and is a founding Board Member of SustainableIT.org.

Established in 2015 by Founder and CEO Joe Kudla, Vuori has grown to unicorn status thanks to its differentiated, versatile perspective on performance apparel. Expansion outside of the US is a key strategy for furthering the brand's growth and profitability. In October of 2021, Vuori received a $400 million investment by the SoftBank Vision Fund 2, which valued the brand at $4 billion.