Our Team
Darrell Cavens | CEOPrior to starting zulily, Darrell most recently spent a year at Microsoft, and almost nine years at Blue Nile. Darrell started at Blue Nile in 1999, just a few months after the company was founded. There he worked in various roles, most recently as senior vice president of marketing and technology. Prior to joining Blue Nile, Darrell spent a number of years at Starwave, a Seattle-based Internet company, working on large web properties like ESPN.com and ABCNews.com. Before moving to Seattle, Darrell worked as a project manager and consultant at Ingenia Communications in Canada. Darrell has a five-year-old daughter and a three-year-old son that keep him entertained and busy when he is not working.
Luke Friang | CIOLuke was most recently vice president and chief information officer at drugstore.com, inc. where he oversaw all aspects of technology strategy, planning, development and operations. Prior to drugstore, he was senior director of e-commerce technologies at Costco Wholesale, Inc. and held a variety of roles at The Spiegel Group and its associated companies, including Eddie Bauer and The Spiegel Catalog. At Eddie Bauer, he served as director of Internet technologies and was responsible for the development of www.eddiebauer.com in 1999 and 2000. Luke serves on the board of directors for the WTIA (Washington Technology Information Association), enjoys playing competitive football and coaching teams for his ten-year-old daughter and eight-year-old son.
Lori Twomey | Vice President, MerchandisingLori was most recently the president of Charming Direct/Crosstown Traders, where she launched the Lane Bryant Woman catalogue in 2007. Prior to joining Crosstown Traders, she spent 16 years with Eddie Bauer in merchandising, product development and new business development, most recently as GMM of Eddie Bauer Direct. Lori loves to spend time in the outdoors, especially running marathons and half marathons.
Dave Atchison | Vice President, MarketingDave joins us from RedEnvelope, where he was the head of marketing and analytics. Before working at RedEnvelope, Dave was the director of marketing for ProvideCommerce (ProFlowers). Previously, Dave founded a startup in the digital media space and spent a number of years as a strategic consultant for several Fortune 1000 companies. While Dave doesnât have any kids of his own, he and his wife spend lots of time spoiling their seven nieces and nephews.
Angy Merola | Vice President, FinanceAngy joins zulily from Razorfish, a worldwide advertising agency recently acquired by Publicis Groupe, where she supported the Financial Planning, Reporting, and Analysis function. Prior to Razorfish, she was the Vice President of Finance and Operations at Mixpo, an online video advertising company. She also spent many years at aQuantive, a digital marketing company acquired by Microsoft, in various financial and operational roles. Angy began her career at Deloitte. Angy has a fearless and funny three- year-old son.
Bridgette Hartley | Vice President, Brand and DesignBridgette joins zulily from Nordstrom, where she spent a little more than two years leading the Internet design team for Nordstrom Direct. Prior to Nordstrom, she served for several years as art director and manager of creative services at Blue Nile. Before joining Blue Nile, Bridgette worked as an art director at an agency designing sites for Fortune 1000 companies, and also performed contract work for Microsoft for Encarta Encyclopedia and the launch of the Microsoft Network. While away from work, Bridgette is busy finding trains for her six-year-old son and trying not to buy everything on the site for her baby girl.
Maureen Shea | Vice President, Service OperationsMaureen joins zulily from T-Mobile, where she spent the last year leading the My T-Mobile.com web team as director of eService. Prior to T-Mobile, she built out the customer service and fraud departments as director of customer service at Blue Nile. Maureen also spent time working at Airborne Express in various leadership positions, including customer service, training and quality assurance. Maureen has a four-year-old son who can't get enough of planes and a ten-year-old step-daughter who loves bike riding and animals.
Doug Aley | Vice President, Corporate DevelopmentPrior to joining zulily, Doug was CEO of Off & Away, an innovative travel site blending commerce and entertainment, that was acquired by Lockerz in 2011. A life-long entrepreneur, Doug founded his first company, SSB BART Group, at age 19 to help large corporations improve website and application accessibility for people with disabilities. He was an entrepreneur in residence at Madrona Venture Group and held senior product, marketing and business development roles at jott.com and Amazon. Doug earned his BA from Stanford and MBA from Harvard Business School. His two awesome kids and amazing wife keep his life busy and wonderful.
Barbara Thompson | Vice President, Human ResourcesBarbara joins zulily from Cardiac Science Corporation where she was the VP of Human Resources. Barbara also held senior human resources roles at Expedia, where she supported corporate services, and at Starwave as VP of Human Resources. Barbara holds a BA from the University of Northern Iowa and an MBA from the University of Washington. Barbara has an active 12-year-old daughter who plays basketball and soccer and her family enjoys spending time at their cabin south of Sequoia National Park.
Kristin Toth Smith | Vice President, Supply ChainPrior to joining zulily, Kristin spent eight years with Amazon in leadership positions in operations, product management, and merchandising. Kristin began her career in the auto industry with General Motors and Chrysler, before moving to Dell Computer Corporation. She holds a MBA and MSE from MIT/Sloan and both a BSE and MSE from the University of Michigan. Kristin serves as the VP on the Board for Tauber Institute for Global Operations, is an accomplished violinist and sends lots of zulily surprises to her wonderful niece and nephew.
Kristine Kirby | Managing Director, UKKristine was most recently Ecommerce & Multichannel Director at Monsoon Accessorize, where she oversaw the launch of Accessorize as a stand alone site, as well as internationally, and oversaw the development and launch of the Monsoon customer loyalty programme. Prior to Monsoon Accessorize, Kristine was Home Shopping Director at Fat Face and Ecommerce & Systems Director at Lipsy. Prior to her move to the UK in the early nineties, Kristine owned two companies in the USâa retail knitting business with both a storefront and an online store, and a direct marketing agency. When not working, she can be found playing real tennis, attempting to golf, and spoiling her niece, nephews and friends' children all who hope to grow up to be zulily models.
Board of Directors
Darrell Cavens | CEO
Mark Vadon | Chairman of the BoardMark Vadon co-founded zulily and serves as chairman of the board. Mark is currently chairman of the board of Blue Nile. Prior to February 2008, he served as CEO of Blue Nile since its inception in 1999. From December 1992 to March 1999, Mark was a consultant for Bain & Company, a management consulting firm. Mark holds a B.A. in social studies from Harvard University and an M.B.A. from Stanford University. Mark also serves on the board of Wine.com.
Dan Levitan | Board MemberDan Levitan has 25 years of collective experience in venture capital and investment banking, specialising in consumer and retail businesses. Eager to help innovative companies realize their full potential, Levitan launched Maveron, in 1998, with Howard Schultz, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Starbucks Coffee Company. In this role, Levitan has led many Maveron investments including zulily, Cranium, Potbelly Sandwich Works and Pinkberry and has directed many successful exits within the last 10 years, including, Capella Education Company (NASDAQ:CPLA), Cranium (acquired by Hasbro NASDAQ:HAS), Quellos (acquired by Blackrock NASDAQ:BLK), Good Technology (acquired by Motorola NASDAQ:MOT) and Shutterfly (NASDAQ:SFLY). He currently serves on the Board of Directors for Decide.com, NextFoods, PayNearMe, Pinkberry, Potbelly Sandwich Works, and Trupanion. Levitan is also a board member for The Rock Center for Entrepreneurship at Harvard Business School and the Seattle Children's Hospital Foundation. He graduated from Horace Mann School, and received a BA magna cum laude from Duke University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Mike Potter | Board MemberMike Potter has over 30 years of experience in the retail industry - including e-commerce, department stores, specialty stores, discount and closeout retailing. Mike spent 14 years with Big Lots, serving as Chairman and CEO, as well as EVP and CFO. Prior to Big Lots, Mike held various positions with The Limited, Inc., May Department Stores, and Meier & Frank. Mike currently serves on the Board of Directors of Coldwater Creek, Blue Nile and Zulily, and formerly served on the Boards of Newegg and Big Lots. He holds an MBA from Capital University and a BS in Finance and Management from the University of Oregon.
Craig Sherman | Board MemberCraig Sherman has over 20 years of operating experience in consumer services businesses. Craig Sherman is a Managing Director at Meritech Capital, a leading provider of late-stage venture capital to category-defining technology companies including zulily, Facebook, ZipCar and Salesforce.com. Prior to Meritech, Craig was CEO of Gaia Interactive, a 25 million+ monthly unique pioneer in social games. Previously, Craig was COO of Ancestry.com (ACOM), where he helped grow the company from $10 million to $150 million in sales. Before Ancestry, he was CEO of Cendant Japan. Craig has personally invested in over a dozen startups including Ancestry, SurveyMonkey, Zillow and Zipcar. He graduated magna cum laude from Princeton University.
Eric Carlborg | Board MemberEric is a partner at August Capital and has broad investing, transaction and operating experience in private and public growth companies. Prior to joining August Capital, Eric was a partner at Continental Investors where he invested in ecommerce and software companies; and financial technology and service companies. His experience includes several years of investment banking at Merrill Lynch & Co including the position of Co-Head of Technology Investment Banking. Eric also served as an Executive in Residence at Golden Gate Capital. Eric's operating experience includes: CFO for Einstein Noah Bagel Corporation (ENBC) during the companyâs initial public offering. CFO for Authorize.Net which was acquired by Go2Net (GNET). CFO of Provide Commerce (PRVD) which was acquired by Liberty Media Interactive (LINTA). Eric received a BA in Economics from the University of Illinois and MBA from the University of Chicago.