Search Mandate
Outdoor Research was born of the founder’s research-led approach to solving problems that humans face in unforgiving environments. Inspired by an experience when a climbing partner suffered injury due to poorly designed gear, Ron Gregg combined his passion for adventure with his training as a scientist to develop highly functional insulated gear to help people more safely traverse wild places.
Over 40-plus years, Outdoor Research has broadly expanded the application of its core purpose, including by creating gear for military and medical personnel as well as outdoor enthusiasts and athletes. The company continues to conceive and develop purpose-built products that ingeniously support everyone who needs to thrive in extreme conditions.
After facing two years of pandemic-induced inventory challenges, leaders chose to recruit a new Vice President E-Commerce with merchandising, marketing, social media, and web analytics experience to drive direct-to-consumer revenue growth. In addition to outdoor sector expertise, the optimal candidate would bring hands-on success guiding digital transformation, including website re-platforming.
The VP E-Commerce would model a “player-coach” mindset to strengthen internal and external partnerships, applying unified analytics and insights to improve channel integration and performance, and sustain a seamless omnichannel shopping experience for customers. In late summer 2022, Outdoor Research turned to Noto Group and the search began.
Our Approach
For this role, there was a heightened sense of urgency to backfill a business-critical vacancy. Having worked together on numerous occasions, the process was consistent and efficient.
It was important for the VP E-Commerce to be based at the Seattle headquarters, but Noto did not limit its search to the Pacific Northwest. Thanks to the national reach of its potential talent pool, they were able to provide clients with a diverse range of skill and background mixes to consider.
The ultimate hire, Sarah Siefert, appreciated the clarity and consistency of communication about the role and the process that resulted from the strength of the partnership between recruiter and client. Her admiration of both companies’ reputations in the outdoor space contributed to her decision to relocate from Colorado to take the job.
“Trust builds when you take your role as a brand steward seriously. It is an honor to represent such a passionate and smart team. Partnering with the OR leadership team to help hire transformative talent has been a highlight of my tenure with Noto Group.”
— Tami Bumiller, Principal Search Consultant at Noto Group
Results
Siefert wasted no time putting her background leading data-driven tech transformation into action at Outdoor Research. Within her first year, the website had been re-platformed, with full support of the executive team. And within two years, her team had made notable progress toward the company’s e-commerce goals, despite persisting inventory bottlenecks.
Among their successes was a significant increase in customer satisfaction. By applying technology and systems improvements determined through customer listening programs, they dropped the contact per order rate – the amount of people who call in with issues – from 30% to 12%. “This enables staff to shift from solving problems to creating delight and really doing a great job with customers,” says Siefert. “So we're pretty pumped about that.”
These are just a few examples of the impact that the VP E-Commerce has led for a company with a “roll up your sleeves and get it done” mindset. With support from Noto Group, Outdoor Research is ready to continue to apply ingenuity and passion to make a positive impact on the outdoor community.
“Noto’s outstanding, empathetic communication made me feel confident I understood the role, and that I mattered as a human. When you work with them, you can be confident they are seeking the best human for an amazing opportunity.”
— Sarah Siefert, VP of Ecommerce at Outdoor Research
