Jason Gowans is jumping from Nordstrom Inc. to Levi Strauss & Co., where he will be senior vice president and chief digital officer starting Feb. 6.
Gowans brings to the denim mainstay 10 years of experience with Nordstrom, where he rose to be senior vice president of digital commerce, leading the growth of the retailer’s e-commerce businesses.
At Levi’s, he will tie together the company’s engineering, data, artificial intelligence and digital product management to “spearhead digital efforts.”
He reports to president Michelle Gass, the Kohl’s and Starbucks veteran who joined Levi’s this month and is set to succeed Chip Bergh as chief executive officer.
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Bergh said, “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 e-commerce — and accelerate our growth.”
Since 2011, Bergh has been steadily transforming Levi’s, organizing it to be a much more dynamic and publicly traded player focused more on its own direct-to-consumer businesses and, more recently, ramping up even more in digital.
A statement from Levi’s said having a chief digital officer is “key to managing the company’s primary growth drivers, including d-to-c revenue increases coming from productivity, service, loyalty and e-commerce acceleration.”
Gowans said, “There’s a clear opportunity to accelerate the profitable growth of the d-to-c business and focus on key areas of the company where data science can make an impact.”
Gass is expected to move into the corner office within about 18 months and while she learns the ins and outs of Levi’s, her work with Gowans will give her a direct hand in changes that seem likely to shape the business during her tenure.