Search Mandate
PetWise employees start every day with one goal in mind: Create the world’s best products for pets and their people. With a large family of award-winning products, the company is committed to making the most innovative and affordable pet care solutions available around the world.
In 2023, leaders decided to create a new role to diversify global supply chain capabilities. Post-pandemic economic pressures demanded expansion beyond a single Asian supply market. They reached out to Noto Group to recruit a VP of Sourcing with experience both navigating acquisitions and calibrating efficiencies to maximize post-acquisition business value across their portfolio of 10+ brands.
The ideal hire, reporting to the COO, would bring deep omni-channel and multibrand consumer products expertise across a variety of categories. They would have led partnerships with big-box stores as well as with large manufacturing networks and suppliers worldwide. And, since the new role would involve regular work in Asia, time zone differences demanded a leader who could self-sufficiently execute on strategy.
Through its partnership with Noto Group, PetWise activated a comprehensive recruitment and selection process to fill this specialized position.
“When we interviewed Noto, it was clear they had a detailed process. They saved us valuable time by consistently bringing strong candidates that matched our specific criteria.”
— Jeff Sutherland, COO, PetWise
Our Approach
Noto led early discovery conversations to solidify their understanding of PetWise’s business needs and expectations for the role, particularly based on current economic business influences. The initial needs assessment work equipped Noto to effectively calibrate applicant profiles to develop and present a well-qualified candidate pool to PetWise hiring leaders — who could then focus on the interviewing and selection process.
The search methodology was designed to include top candidates who weren’t actively seeking a new position but might be open to considering a compelling new opportunity. This addition of “passive” candidates helped Noto curate the most diverse pool of top candidates for client consideration — and the ultimate hire was someone Noto discovered through this strategy.
Results
Owen Ley joined the PetWise executive team as VP of Sourcing in early summer of 2023. He appreciated Noto Group for accurately describing the particulars of the role and company culture, and for helping him foresee and best prepare for each next step throughout the recruiting process — including when he was coordinating to participate in interviews from Asia.
“It was impressive that Noto found me, because I wasn’t looking. But my experience was a strong match, and it was a right job for me.”
— Owen Ley, VP of Sourcing, PetWise
To kick off his role, Ley co-developed with the COO a global supply strategy that he’s currently implementing in collaboration with other leaders in the company. Organizational enhancements and cost savings are markers of the impact he’s made in the first four quarters he’s been in his role.
PetWise is in a strong position to continue to diversify and grow beyond global supply constraints — thanks to the addition of this new executive, recruited by Noto Group.
