Mr. Zwillinger has served as our Chief Executive Officer since May 2023 and as our President and a member of our board of directors since he co-founded our company in May 2015. Mr. Zwillinger served as Co-Chief Executive Officer from October 2015 until May 2023. Prior to cofounding Allbirds, Mr. Zwillinger served as Vice President of Industrial Products at TerraVia Holdings, Inc. (formerly Solazyme, Inc.), a biotechnology company from 2009 to 2015. Mr. Zwillinger has served on the board of directors of Big Sky Growth Partners, Inc., a publicly traded special purpose acquisition corporation, since April 2021. Mr. Zwillinger holds a B.S. in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research from the University of California, Berkeley and an M.B.A. with honors from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Mr. Brown has served as our Chief Innovation Officer since May 2023 and has been a member of our board of directors since he co-founded our company in May 2015. Mr. Brown served as Co-Chief Executive Officer from October 2015 until May 2023 and served as our Chief Executive Officer from May 2015 to October 2015. Prior to co-founding Allbirds, Mr. Brown served as Manager in the Innovation Strategy and Business Development Department at Redscout, a brand consulting firm, from March 2015 to August 2015. In 2010, Mr. Brown was Vice Captain of the New Zealand World Cup football team. Mr. Brown holds a B.S. in Design from the College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning at the University of Cincinnati and an M.Sc. in International Management from the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Ms. Mitchell has served as our Chief Financial Officer since April 2023. From June 2021 to March 2023, Ms. Mitchell served as the Vice President of Finance & Insights for Gymshark, a fitness apparel and accessories brand, manufacturer, and retailer, where she led the financial strategy for the North American region, overseeing the finance, analytics, and research functions, and was a senior member of the leadership team. Prior to Gymshark, Ms. Mitchell spent almost ten years (May 2011 to March 2021) with adidas, a global footwear and apparel company, where she served in progressively senior financial leadership roles. In her most recent role, she was the Senior Vice President of Finance and Chief Financial Officer for adidas North America (August 2017 to March 2021), where she was a key member of the senior leadership team and was responsible for driving the strategic growth of the region. Her responsibilities included leading the finance, demand planning, accounting, and controlling functions. Ms. Mitchell holds a B.A. in Economics from the University of Puget Sound and an M.B.A. and an M.Sc. in Finance from the University of Denver Daniels College of Business.
Mr. Vernachio has served as our Chief Operating Officer since June 2021. From April 2017 to May 2021, Mr. Vernachio served as President of Mountain Hardwear, Inc., an outdoor apparel, equipment, and accessories company, where he led all aspects of Mountain Hardwear’s global business, including brand positioning, go-to-market strategies, and execution across all distribution channels. From March 2011 to March 2017, Mr. Vernachio served in several roles at The North Face, an outdoor products company and subsidiary of VF Corporation, including most recently as Vice President of Global Product from July 2012 to March 2017, in which role he oversaw the brand’s apparel, footwear, and equipment across all regions. Mr. Vernachio holds an A.S. in Forest Sciences and Biology from Paul Smith’s College.
Mr. Joseph has served as our Chief Technology Officer since October 2020 and prior to that, Head of Engineering since 2017. Prior to Allbirds, he founded GoodApril which was acquired by Intuit in 2013. At Intuit, he served as Director of Engineering of TurboTax until 2017. Mr. Joseph is also a Managing Partner at V1.VC, a seed-stage technology venture capital firm. Mr. Joseph holds a B.S. in Computer Engineering from the University of Michigan, a M.S. in Computer Science from Georgia Tech, and a M.B.A from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
Ms. Ridley is an industry veteran with 25 years of experience in strategic marketing, premium brand positioning and accelerating commercial growth. Prior to joining Allbirds, she served as Adidas North America’s Senior Vice President of Brand, where she played an integral role in the development of creative, result-driven marketing programs. Ms. Ridley was instrumental in positioning Adidas at the intersection of sport and culture and leveraged the brand’s sustainable innovation credentials to rise above the competition in the next frontier of footwear and apparel. She started her career as a Category Manager at Adidas and from 2003 to 2012 and 2014 to 2022 held positions of increasing responsibility. Ms. Ridley studied Banking & Finance and International Marketing at Monash University in her native Australia and completed executive education at Harvard Business School and the Center for Creative Learning.
