The North Face is set for another leadership change as global brand president Caroline Brown prepares to step down after about two years in the role.
She will be succeeded by Chris Goble, the former global brand president of Dickies, which parent company VF Corporation sold to Bluestar Alliance last year.
CEO Bracken Darrell said the transition had been planned for some time.
“Caroline Brown, who was on our board, I asked her to step in to really help us get The North Face going again,” Darrell said.
“We’d had a lot of political challenges inside the company. There’s a lot of strife, and the morale is terribly low. Caroline came in. I thought we’d be lucky if we kept her for a couple of years. She’s come and done a super job.”
Brown previously led Donna Karen before joining VC Corp as The North Face’s president in 2024, replacing Nicole Otto.
Her successor, Goble, joined Dickies as global brand president in October 2024 after spending seven years at Gap Inc. and more than 11 years at Old Navy.
Since becoming CEO in June 2023, Darrell has made several leadership changes across VF Corporation’s portfolio of brands. These included appointing Brown to lead The North Face, Sun Choe to lead Vans, and Goble to head Dickies.
The North Face has seen multiple leadership changes in recent years.
Otto, previously a Nike executive, was appointed president in 2022, succeeding Steve Murray after his retirement. Murray had taken over from Arne Arens, who led the brand for more than three years.
