C.A. Fortune has appointed a new executive leadership team, consisting of Dave Cox, CFO; Jaime Frye, chief sales officer; Laura Howell, chief client officer; Ali Shouman, chief growth officer; and Steve Gaither, chief marketing officer. All five executives report to Tyler Lowell, managing partner CEO.
“We are at an exciting moment in C.A. Fortune’s history, following two successful acquisitions this past year and the continuation of building out a best-in-class team across the firm,” says Lowell. “Given this opportunity to realize accelerated growth potential, we’ve created an executive team that has a proven track record of high-level achievement. These individuals possess a clear understanding of what our brand represents as far as the unique service we provide our partners, and the leadership acumen to energize their respective teams nationwide. I look forward to working with these outstanding leaders to achieve the opportunity we have in our next stage of growth.”
- Dave Cox, CFO, is an MBA graduate with honors from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. He has 20 years of experience in corporate finance and has joined C.A. Fortune after 15 years working with CareerBuilder, most recently as VP of global financial planning and analysis. As CFO, Cox and his team lead all of C.A. Fortune’s financial planning and analysis, accounting, tax, treasury and mergers and acquisitions functions. “As CFO of C.A. Fortune, I am excited to help build strategic relationships that will be financial wins for the company, and our client and customer partners,” says Cox. “The existing leadership team’s passion for the brands we support is contagious and I can’t wait to be a part of the next chapter of growth.”
- Jaime Frye, chief sales officer, received her education from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University. She comes from a sales leadership background following 12 years at Procter & Gamble and VP sales roles within WhiteWave Foods and Amplify Snack Brands. In her new role, Frye oversees the entire sales organization (C.A. Sales) with prime focus on the continuation of enhancing C.A.’s national strategy, retailer and distributor engagement and overall development of the firm’s customer leads and sales leadership. “It is personally very exciting for me to be joining the organization at this time of rapid growth and expansion across all types of clients and customers,” says Frye. “This role is a great melding of my past experiences at big and small CPG within both the conventional and natural channels of trade. I look forward to the continued growth that we are poised to deliver again in 2020 and am eager to thrive in the fast-paced, dynamic environment that C.A. Fortune has created.”
- Laura Howell, chief client officer, previously led C.A. Fortune’s client teams nationally as VP of client strategy and partnership. In her new role, she has overall responsibility for client strategy and partnership, business intelligence and administrative services within the organization.
- Ali Shouman, chief growth officer, formerly served as SVP of business development and retail activation. In his new role, he has responsibility/accountability of the company’s sales accelerator business unit (C.A. Build), e-commerce pillar (C.A. E-Comm), business development and corporate strategy.
- As SVP of C.A. Branding, Steve Gaither joined the C.A. Fortune family as the former president of JB Chicago, the full-service marketing firm that was acquired by the company in January of 2019. In his new role as chief marketing officer, he continues to lead the C.A. Branding pillar and has overall responsibility for the C.A. Fortune brand, both internally and externally across the country.
Founded in 1983, C.A. Fortune is a leading, privately held, full-service consumer brands sales and marketing agency. The company is headquartered in Chicago and has regional offices across the country.
