Former Dollar Shave Club CMO brings extensive retail, branding and digital marketing leadership to  drive deeper, authentic consumer relationships and brand experiences for Vans

COSTA MESA, CA, APRIL 21, 2021 – Vans, the global icon of creative expression, today announced that Kristin Harrer has joined the company as Global Chief Marketing Officer, effective today. As CMO, Kristin will lead the company’s global marketing and creative teams as Vans continues its brand purpose of empowering creative self-expression in youth culture across action sports, art, music and street culture. 

“In addition to being an outstanding leader with a proven track record at other global brands, Kristin is a passionate and true brand expert in digital and direct to consumer experiences”, said Doug Palladini, Global Brand President at Vans. “As we continue to accelerate our digital transformative thinking, Kristin will spearhead our brand’s ability to connect with our global consumer base through the creation of meaningful and authentic consumer touchpoints.”

At Vans, Harrer will report directly to Doug Palladini, Global Brand President, and will be a key thought leader for Vans’ continued growth and strategic direction. With this, Harrer will be responsible for setting vision, strategy and driving global planning, creative development and execution for marketing across retail, brand and digital, with the overarching objective to ensure Vans’ ability to drive deep consumer connectivity, generate brand heat, and create demand for the brand with existing and potential fans around the world.

“It has long been my belief that the role of a CMO is to set a north-star vision for a brand’s future and to then empower, coach and support teams in forging a path to make that vision a reality,” said Kristin Harrer, the incoming Global Chief Marketing Officer at Vans. “The Vans brand has a deep history of being authentically engrained in local creative communities across the world. The dedication, thoughtfulness and creativity I am seeing from the Vans family worldwide has been truly inspiring and I look forward to helping to harness that energy as we continue to grow the Vans brand globally.”

Harrer joins Vans from Dollar Shave Club where she served as CMO leading core marketing functions including integrated go to market, creative, design, insights and media. Harrer brings over 20 years of experience leading marketing teams and leveraging data and insights to drive brand growth and innovation across leading consumer tech, sports and fitness brands including Samsung and Nike. Harrer has also been involved in Adweek’s Executive Mentor Program which connects senior-level marketers with some of the world’s top CMOs, CBOs, CEOs and more to help evolve the face of the C-Suite. She was also named to Forbes’ ‘CMO Next 2019: 50 Game-Changing Marketing Leaders’, a compilation of 50 CMOs who are redefining the CMO role.

Harrer holds a JD and MBA from University of Oregon and a B.A. from Washington University in Saint Louis. As a storyteller and a life-long competitive athlete, she is passionate about building and coaching high-performing teams and inspiring cross-functional leaders. 

About Vans

Vans®, a VF Corporation (NYSE: VFC) brand, is the original action sports footwear, apparel and accessories brand. Vans® authentic collections are sold in 97 countries through a network of subsidiaries, distributors and international offices. Vans® has over 2,000 retail locations globally including owned, concession and partnership doors. The Vans® brand promotes creative self-expression in youth culture across action sports, art, music and street culture, and delivers progressive platforms such as the Vans Checkerboard Day, Vans Park Series, Vans Triple Crown of Surfing®, Vans Custom Culture, and Vans' cultural hub and international music venue, House of Vans.

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