Chris Parkhurst
Professional History:
CPCO, LLC & NextLevel -Seattle, WA | Current
NextLevel is a Pacific Northwest-based professional services firm with national resources, providing executive and board services on an interim, project and advisory basis. NextLevel delivers a broad range of strategic, operational and financial management services through vetted, expert team members who have an average of two decades of experience serving in leadership positions within the C-suite and boards of directors.
Principal | 2020 – Current
Providing fractional and advisory executive leadership in the CPG space specializing in omni-channel sales, marketing, branding, digital/e-commerce and product development
Cascade Designs - Seattle, WA | 2007 - 2019
Cascade Designs is a privately-owned manufacturer and supplier of outdoor gear sold under the Therm-a-rest, Mountain Safety Research (MSR), SealLine, Platypus and PackTowl brands. Global sales exceed $140M in top-line sales annually.
Sr. Vice President/CMO | 2017 – 2019
Responsible for reinventing and revitalizing the front end of Cascade Designs business functions. providing leadership and strategic direction for the sales, marketing, product development, service and IT teams. Through my leadership these teams (100+ employees) implemented a “digital first”, customer-centric and responsive omni-channel distribution model. These initiatives accelerated growth, expanded our digital ecosystem and improved accountability across the front end of the organization.
Achieved the highest top-line sales in 50-year history of Cascade Designs in 2018, $110M in N.A./Pac Rim ($140M consolidated), 15% growth over prior year
Orchestrated an omni-channel sales and distribution growth strategy
Accelerated Amazon growth from 3M to 11M,
Implemented DTC strategy growing the business from 1M to 9M
Elevated the REI business from 26M to 33M
Returning Military business unit to growth from 5M to 10M
Led the digital transformation with the launch of a new eComm and CRM platforms resulting in heightened customer engagement throughout the purchase journey generating data driven insights and enhanced personalized to improve the “in-the-funnel” experience
DTC platform and strategy generated a new revenue stream of >$3.0M in top-line sales in the first year
Managed all 6 of Cascade’s e-comm platforms to leverage the overall Cascade experience
Developed the product road maps across all brands to commanded #1 market share leadership in all of Cascade’s core product categories as measured by NPD Group
Created a new SOP process to enhance forecast accuracy, improve on-time delivery and reduce stock-outs
Sr. Vice President/COO | 2015 – 2017
Provided leadership and management to a team of 400 employees during a period of transition as the baton of day-to-day business operations transferred from founder to his son. Directly providing leadership to the sales, marketing, product development, supply chain, manufacturing operations, service and IT teams. During this transition period, Cascade moved in a new strategic direction aligning the company with a more modern approach to business management focused on Lean Enterprise principles.
Implemented Lean Enterprise across the entire organization moving to a continuous improvement, individual empowerment and metric driven organization
Transformed Cascade Designs from a -7.4% to 5.6% operating profit in a 24-month period
Generated > $4M in annual expense savings
Reduced inventory value from 40M to 25M
Reduce manufacturing footprint from 3 facilities to 2 facilities removing 1.5M in overhead
Grew product margins through overhead reduction, product repositioning and SKU optimization
Re-calibrate the organization structure to align resources behind value streams (channels) to drive growth, value and service
Improved key service metrics of fill and on-time rates from mid-60% to greater than 90%
Improved product launch commitments from 70% to 90%
Developed channel specific product solutions and communication
Created the DTC strategy starting with defining the Cascade customer, creating Cascade’s online value proposition, developed the e-comm org structure and defined Cascade’s e-comm experience
Extended the digital ecosystem blueprint established under MSR to the other business units moving all brands to a digital first marketing mentality focusing resources on the online experience
Revitalized and repositioned the Therm-a-rest brand driven by extensive market research and consumer insights creating an updated value proposition, new segmentation and category extensions to regain market share and generate > $3M in revenue in the 1st season
Established a stage gate product development process to streamline the conception-to-grave product development cycle
Championed a customer centric approach to management focusing on transparency, individual empowerment and continuous improvement
Integrated a Design Thinking mentality prioritizing the customer needs, mapping their journey and adapting solutions to address their pain points
Developed a technology roadmap to reduce systems, improve connectivity, develop a centralized data collection point and improve information transparency throughout the organization
Executive Vice President, MSR Business Unit | 2011 – 2015
Transformed MSR from a fragmented brand under the Cascade Designs umbrella to representing 50% of Cascade’s global sales and one of the top 10 recognized outdoor brands by SGI (Sporting Goods Intelligence). My team of 80+ employees included the functions of sales, marketing, product development, supply chain and manufacturing operations.
Under my leadership, top-line sales in N. America, Europe and Pac Rim grew from $41M to $69M becoming the #1 brand in Cascade Designs portfolio
European top-line sales grew from €6M to €18M through gleaning new consumer insights to tailor a product offering that resonates with the European customers’ experience
Transformed MSR from a traditional wholesale marketing platform to an integrated digital ecosystem, creating an online web of connection points to drive top-of-funnel traffic
Created the product road map introducing over 12 award winning products in a 4-year period and established market leadership in all of MSR’s core categories as measured by NPD retail tracking
Identified an opportunity to expand MSR’s technology and innovation into a new channel – Global Health creating a new revenue source of >1M in top-line within the first year
Improved product margins 200 basis points through new product introductions, SKU optimization and product positioning
Introduced a stage gate product development process leading to improved product launch cadence and execution achieving >90% on-time delivery of new products
Developed the MSR visual brand language playbook and style guide, providing the brand a compass for future development and communication
Director, Winter Products | 2009 - 2011
Created the product road map and go-to-market strategies that took Winter Product sales from 8M to 15M globally
Utilizing market research to uncover customer insights to identify new market segmentation; MSR sales grew $4M YOY and went from the #3 brand to the #1 snowshoe brand in North America
Global Brand Manager, Mountain Safety Research (MSR) | 2007 - 2009
Crystalized MSR’s value proposition in the outdoor market leading to new product and communication solutions.
Created and developed MSR marketing strategy resulting in MSR becoming the largest hard-goods brand in the outdoor market
Cutter & Buck - Seattle, WA | 2005 -2007
Cutter & Buck is a $136M sports apparel company specializing in selling into the Golf, Retail, Collegiate, DTC and Corporate channels.
Head of Marketing | 2005 - 2007
DTC grew to over 1M in top-line sales per month with my team leading content and asset creation driving top-of-funnel activities
Restructured the team to support an omni-channel strategy serving the golf, corporate, collegiate, fashion and DTC channels
Developed, mentored and re-invigorated a fragmented marketing team to perform at a high level
Repositioned the C&B brand behind its golf heritage, driving new top-line growth and elevated Cutter & Buck to the #2 golf apparel brand in golf specialty retail
Through extensive consumer research, created a new brand under the C&B umbrella targeted at a younger audience called CBUK generating a new revenue stream
K2 Sports - Vashon, WA | 1997 - 2005
K2 Sports was a $350M publicly traded winter sports company selling sporting goods and winter gear under the K2 Sports, Ride Snowboards, Morrow Snowboards, Planet Earth and Dana Designs brands to name a few.
Brand Services, Director | 2003 - 2005
Created, developed and inspired an internal creative agency to service the brands under the K2 Sports umbrella (10+ brands).
Services provided included web development and design, graphic support, collateral development, POS solutions, messaging/copy creation and strategy
National Sales Manager, K2 Snowboards | 2001 -2003
P/L responsibility for a 17M business unit
Reversed a declining sales trend returning K2 Snowboards from YOY sales declines to top-line sales growth of 15% in the first season
Expanded distribution into 3P online retail creating a new sales channel generating >1M in the first year
Re-energized, focused and motivated the US rep force after years of declining sales
Developed the product road map to drive the sales growth strategy in boots, snowboards, bindings and apparel
Sourcing and Operations Director, Snowboards | 1997 - 2001
Oversaw the operations of the snowboard business unit including vendor strategy, vendor negotiation, vendor selection, product forecasting and planning, sourced finished goods included: apparel, footwear and hardgoods.
Education:
Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA | 1992
Bachelor of Arts: Business Economics
Cornell University, Ithaca, NY | 2020
Certificate: Marketing Analytics
Activities:
Guest lecturer, Albers School of Business and Economics, Seattle University
OIA trade advisory council member
Active member in University of Oregon’s sports product management program
Advisory Board, Hest Outdoors
