Carla Vernón

Carla Vernón (/vɛərnoʊn/) is an American businesswoman. She is the chief executive officer (CEO) of The Honest Company.[1] She held executive positions at Amazon[1] and was General Mills division president of Natural and Organic Foods prior to that.[2] In January 2023, she became the first Afro-Latina CEO of a publicly traded company.[3][4]

Carla Vernón
Carla Vernón in February 2023
EducationPrinceton University, 1992 Bachelor of Arts in evolutionary biology; McCombs School of Business (UT Austin) 1998 MBA
OccupationBusinesswoman
Spouse
Jason Bowles
​
(m. 2000)​
Children2

Early life and education

Vernón's father immigrated from Panama to New Orleans, Louisiana in 1958. Her mother, Cynthia, is a graduate of Xavier University of Louisiana, where she met Vernón's father.[5] She raised Carla and her brother, Tony, in Western New York state.[6] Her mother worked as a high school math and science teacher and her father as a math professor and administrator for the State University of New York system.[5] Her mother took her to the 1978 women's march for the Equal Rights Amendment.[7] Vernón studied ballet and had her first partnering dance class at the age of 9, as a summer school student of Arthur Mitchell who was a former principal dancer with the New York City Ballet.[8]

Vernón majored in ecology and evolutionary biology during her undergraduate studies at Princeton University.[9] From 1996 to 1998, she attended McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin, where she met her future husband, Jason Bowles; on August 19, 2000, they married.[10]

Career

Early positions

After her graduation from Princeton in 1992, Vernón worked for The Nature Conservancy in Chicago for a year, then for United States Senator Carol Moseley Braun (D-IL) for two years, and for City Year for a year.[5][11]

Upon completion of her MBA studies at McCombs in 1998, Vernón began her career at General Mills,[12] focusing on the Cheerios brand.[13]

General Mills and Amazon

By 2013, Vernón was marketing director for the General Mills "Big G" cereals line.[14] She then advanced to an executive position for the Yoplait brand.[15]

During 2015 and 2016, Vernón was vice president and business director for the General Mills snack unit, which included Nature Valley bars, Fiber One snacks, Larabar, Fruit Snacks, and Cascadian Farm bars.[13] In 2017, she became a vice president for the natural and organic growth acceleration unit, before being promoted to president of Annie's Homegrown and president of General Mills' natural and organic operating unit, which includes Cascadian Farm, Immaculate Baking, Muir Glen, EPIC and Annie's Homegrown.[15][16]

In April 2020, Vernón left General Mills for Amazon, as Vice President of Consumables.[17] She was the company's highest ranking woman of color at the time.[8] In this position, she oversaw the online store's revenue growth in the baby care, household products, food, beverages, health and wellness, and beauty categories.[18] Vernón and The Honest Company collaborated in 2021, making The Honest Company store on Amazon.com fully digital.[18]

The Honest Company

Vernón was appointed Chief Executive Officer of The Honest Company (NASDAQ: HNST), replacing Nick Vlahos in January 2023.[1][19] She is the first Afro-Latina to lead a U.S. publicly traded company.[3][4]

Her hiring as CEO of the company was noted in interviews as a means to address the company's low share price and for her to define a new strategy that results in improved profitability in 2024.[20][21] As part of that strategy, Vernón announced that the Honest Company would exit European and Asian markets in June 2023; revenue for the company increased by 21% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2023.[22]

Board of Directors service

Vernón served on the national Board of Directors for the Make-A-Wish Foundation and as an Advisory Board member for the Wisconsin School of Business, Center for Brand & Product Management.[16]

She is a Henry Crown Fellow at the Aspen Institute and was elected to the Princeton University Board of Trustees in 2020.[9]

References
  1. Sirtori-Cortina, Daniela (13 December 2022). "Honest Co. Names Former Amazon Executive as New CEO". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 18 April 2023.
  2. Manso, James (December 13, 2022). "The Honest Co. Names Carla Vernón CEO". Women's Wear Daily. Retrieved December 18, 2022.
  3. Pierce, Stephanie (17 April 2023). "Real Talk with The Honest Co. CEO Carla Vernón". Twin Cities Business. Retrieved 18 April 2023.
  4. Taylor, DeAnna (June 9, 2023). "Boss Babes: The Honest Company's CEO Carla Vernón Offers Tips On Climbing The Corporate Ranks". Ebony. Retrieved September 5, 2023.
  5. Kinonen, Judie (November 6, 2018). "Carla Vernón Takes Charge of General Mills' Natural Foods Portfolio and Boosts the Company's Efforts To Move Beyond Sustainability". McCombs Magazine. Retrieved December 18, 2022.
  6. Williams, Nick (December 5, 2017). "Exec shares family link to 'Hidden Figures'". Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal. Retrieved January 15, 2023.
  7. Connery, Ana Pelayo (December 5, 2021). "These six women are using their power to change business for the better". USA Today. Retrieved February 27, 2023.
  8. Yaeger, Don (May 4, 2022). "Amazon's Carla Vernon On Team Synchronization". Corporate Competitor Podcast (Podcast). Chief Executive. Retrieved February 27, 2023.
  9. "Seven elected to Princeton Board of Trustees". Princeton University. July 1, 2020. Retrieved January 15, 2023.
  10. Williams, Nick (28 November 2017). "Carla Vernon, president of Annie's at General Mills, on what consumers want". www.bizjournals.com. Minneapolis / St-Paul Business Journal. Retrieved 18 April 2023.
  11. "CARLA VERNÓN '92". Princeton University. Retrieved January 13, 2023.
  12. Vernón, Carla (May 23, 2017). "Champion of Breakfasts: How Carla Vernon Went from Being Last to Get Promoted to General Mills VP". Working Mother. Archived from the original on October 3, 2017. Retrieved December 18, 2022.
  13. Ortenberg, Carol (April 16, 2020). "Carla Vernon Departs General Mills". Nosh. Retrieved December 18, 2022.
  14. Horovitz, Bruce (September 22, 2013). "Nutritionists frown on Halloween-theme cereals". USA Today. Retrieved January 15, 2023.
  15. Painter, Kristen Leigh (5 August 2017). "Change at top brings fresh face to Annie's" (print). Star Tribune. Minneapolis, Minnesota. pp. D1–D2. Retrieved 18 April 2023.
  16. "Carla Vernón". AGLN – Aspen Global Leadership. Aspen Institute. Retrieved 18 April 2023.
  17. Stych, Anne (April 17, 2020). "Organic brands leader Carla Vernon says she's leaving General Mills". Bizwomen. Retrieved January 15, 2023.
  18. "The Honest Company Names Carla Vernón CEO and One of the Only Afro-Latina CEOs At A U.S. Publicly Traded Company". Black Enterprise. December 13, 2022. Retrieved December 18, 2022.
  19. Browley, Jasmine (December 14, 2022). "Jessica Alba's 'The Honest Company' Taps Carla Vernón As CEO— One Of The Only Afro-Latinas To Lead A U.S. Publicly Traded Company". Essence. Retrieved December 18, 2022.
  20. Hinchliffe, Emma; McGlauflin, Paige (December 14, 2022). "Honest Company's new CEO has a plan to boost the brand's $3 share price". Fortune. Retrieved 18 December 2022.
  21. "The Honest Company Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2022 Financial Results". The Wall Street Journal. Los Angeles, CA: Dow Jones. 31 March 2023. p. 1. Retrieved 18 April 2023.
  22. "The Honest Company to Exit Europe, Asia". Nonwovens Industry. Non-wovens Magazine. 7 June 2023. Retrieved 28 June 2023.
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