Encinitas activewear brand Vuori is bolstering its C-suite once again with the hiring of former Levi Strauss & Co. CMO Karen Riley-Grant as chief marketing officer.

Riley-Grant officially joins Vuori Jan. 22.

“Karen will play a critical role in our continued evolution, and we couldn’t be more thrilled to welcome her to our incredible, growing team,” founder and CEO Joe Kudla said in a statement.

Kudla also pointed to Riley-Grant’s more than 25 years of experience in retail and “developing iconic brands” in the company’s announcement of her hire.

Riley-Grant noted a “clear runway” for Vuori “to be the performance apparel brand of choice for fans all around the world.”

She joins a company that’s rapidly growing, with a store count that places Vuori in nearly 50 cities, in addition to distribution at retailers such as Nordstrom, REI, and a number of surf specialty accounts.

The incoming CMO most recently held the position of chief marketing officer at Levi Strauss & Co. Prior to that, Riley-Grant held several other marketing positions at the denim company, including vice president of marketing for the Middle East and Africa and vice president of global marketing for Dockers, Denizen, and Levi Strauss & Co. She was also a senior director of global marketing for Converse’s Chuck Taylor business.

Riley-Grant’s hire follows several executive appointments since last year that have further padded Vuori’s C-suite with talent from various industry companies.

Those recent hires include Libby Stockstill, former Vans vice president and global general counsel, as Vuori general counsel and corporate secretary; Chief People Officer Jen Frisch, who was previously Starbucks Coffee Co. senior vice president of partner resources; former Yeti head of global operations Hugh Garrity, as COO; and Chief Information Officer Bryan Muehlberger, former CIO of The Beachbody Co.

Both Stockstill and Muehlberger are the first to hold their respective positions at Vuori.

The hires come amid a report in October of Vuori exploring an IPO, with Bloomberg reporting the activewear company in talks with bankers. Vuori declined to comment on the report at the time of its publication.

The company, which Kudla started in 2015, last raised money in 2021 with a $400 million investment from Softbank’s Vision Fund 2 that bumped Vuori’s value up to $4 billion. Prior to the Softbank capital infusion, Norwest Venture Partners invested $45 million in the business in 2019.

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