As sporting goods and outdoor brands increasingly need leadership talent in both directions across the Atlantic, Noto Group is positioning its expanded UK team to serve outbound US expansion as well as the inbound European searches that built the firm.
Noto Group has named Cody Johns and Kirsty Schofield senior partners, expanding the leadership advisory firm’s global consumer practice.
The moves matter to sporting goods and outdoor executives because they complete a two-way bridge across the Atlantic. For 15 years, Noto Group has guided European brands as they staffed up in North America, and with Schofield now in Leeds alongside Senior Partner John Copeland, hired 18 months ago from rival Fusion Associates, the firm says it can flip that model, giving US brands support to build out leadership in Latin America, Asia and Europe.
The expansion builds on Noto Group’s own roots in the category. Founder Roy Notowitz started his career 30 years ago as a Nike recruiter, and the 17-year-old firm counts adidas, Patagonia and Salomon among its past sporting goods and outdoor clients.
Schofield co-founded PartnerWise and held a shareholder stake there, most recently serving as its global managing director. She has counseled boards, chief executives and leadership teams on senior hires, pairing Hogan-certified assessment work with a network spanning Asia, Europe and North America.
At Noto Group, she will lead growth in beauty, wellness, lifestyle and fashion client work. What draws Schofield to a search, she said, is finding “organizations and leaders building something meaningful.”
Johns brings close to 20 years spanning recruiting, workforce strategy and organizational change. She joins after 14 years with Nike, where she most recently held the title of Director, Talent Business Partner, and counseled vice president and senior vice president leaders around succession planning and leadership hiring in design, product, direct-to-consumer and sales.
In one initiative, she helped move over 2,000 employees through a reorganization completed within 90 days. Earlier in her Nike tenure, she served as Executive Sourcing Director, and before that led recruiting for the merchandising, product creation and product management teams.
The move brings Johns full circle. Notowitz hired her for her first executive-recruiting job at Generator Group, which he led before founding Noto Group, and she went on to take on senior roles in talent and HR at both adidas and Nike.
At Noto Group, Johns will work with clients on leadership hiring and workforce strategy, with client work spanning fitness and sporting goods, beauty, wellness and fashion. Johns called the move her natural next chapter.
