Sakara Life has tapped a Glossier alum as its new chief executive officer.
Henry Davis, who served as president and chief operating officer at Glossier from 2014 to 2018, succeeds cofounders Danielle DuBoise and Whitney Tingle as CEO. DuBoise and Tingle will remain as founders and executive chairs, focusing on education and creative vision.
“We came to the notion that it was time to step up, not step down,” DuBoise said. “We’re focusing on building the mission and vision, educating people, inspiring people…and making sure that Sakara Life is at the forefront of the conversation when it comes to transforming lives with food as medicine.”
“It was vital that we find a CEO who embodied this mission and lived our values,” said Sakara Life board member John Replogle in an email. “With a wealth of experience in the direct-to-consumer category, Henry’s appointment ensures continued growth while providing Danielle and Whitney the focus on nurturing and building the Sakara community, enriching consumer-based content and advancing our overarching mission. This triumvirate is the perfect leadership team to fuel our business.”
Since its launch more than a decade ago, Sakara Life has become a nine-figure business, according to Tingle. In May 2023, WWD reported that the business was on track to reach $150 million by the end of the year, according to industry sources. Now, Davis joins the team on a mission to expand Sakara Life’s reach further.
“Very high on my agenda is [to] build a world class team,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of talent in this business already.…We want to add to that and put in place operators and leaders throughout the organization who can really take us to that next level.”
Concurrently, the company is announcing several other hires, including Kathryn Ordower, former Glossier general counsel, as chief legal and administrative officer, and Brian Buchanan, formerly of Leesa Sleep, as chief technology officer.
While Sakara Life is announcing several C-suite hires, WWD learned that the company underwent layoffs in November 2023. When asked about this and the current size of the workforce, Davis said: “We’re very happy with where the business is at. We have incredible assets to build on. Every business needs to ensure that it’s got the right alignment to its goals on regular intervals, and I feel very good about where we’re at right now.”
In addition to key hires, Davis is also focused on innovation that will propel the brand forward.
“[We’re] investing in data infrastructure so we can better understand some of the things that are going on and make sure that we’re responding,” he said.
Along with this, Davis says he has inherited several key strategies that the brand will continue to double down on, including buzzy collaborations with stars and like-minded brands — in 2023, Sakara collaborated with Tinx and Erewhon — and its ambassador program, which is the “biggest and most efficient marketing channel” according to Davis.
Source: WWD