Levi Strauss & Co. recently announced that Jason Gowans has been named senior vice president and chief digital officer (CDO) for LS&Co., effective February 6. In this new role within the company, Gowans will be focused on bringing together LS&Co.’s engineering, data, AI and digital product management to spearhead digital efforts both for ecommerce and the digital go-to-market. He will report to Michelle Gass, president, LS&Co., and will sit on the executive leadership team (ELT).
“Jason is a seasoned leader with a proven track record and expertise in creating digital experiences that delight consumers, and I have no doubt that he will help us accelerate our strategies to digitally transform the company and be direct-to-consumer (DTC) first,” said Chip Bergh, president and chief executive officer at Levi Strauss & Co. “Jason’s deep knowledge of data science, combined with his strong digital expertise, will help us digitally transform all parts of our business — from supply chain to marketing to ecommerce — and accelerate our growth.”
Last year, LS&Co. announced how it plans to continue to grow the business, with digital being a main component. The appointment of a chief digital officer is key to managing the company’s primary growth drivers, including DTC revenue increases coming from productivity, service, loyalty and ecommerce acceleration.
Gowans joins the company from Nordstrom, where he spent the past 10 years in a variety of marketing, data science and digital roles, serving most recently as senior vice president of Digital Commerce, leading the growth of Nordstrom’s digital business on Nordstrom.com and NordstromRack.com. Before that, he was senior vice president of data science and analytics, leading data science and analytics for the company across all functional areas, including marketing, digital, merchandising and supply chain.
“I am excited to join Levi Strauss & Co. and build upon the success of the team’s direct-to-consumer efforts to date,” Gowans said. “With such an iconic brand and millions of consumers worldwide already shopping Levi.com, there’s a clear opportunity to accelerate the profitable growth of the DTC business and focus on key areas of the company where data science can make an impact.”
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