Flatiron Search Partners Recruits Chief Marketing Officer for WorldSprings

May 28, 2024 – As organizations becomes more complex and power shifts from producers of goods and services to consumers, the chief marketing officer’s job of planning and coordinating marketing activities has become more challenging — and much more influential. Flatiron Search Partners (FSP) has assisted in the placement of Jackie Stauffer as the new chief marketing officer of Off Road Capital Partners-backed WorldSprings, a social wellness destination. “This one hits close to home for a number of reasons,” the search firm said in a LinkedIn post. “First, the placement is the wife of one of our founders and has been an incredible supporter of FSP over the years. Second, the client has been a friend to the firm for many years across several businesses, and is the definition of a relationship built upon consistent results, trust, and mutual respect.”

Ms. Stauffer is the founder and CEO of The Sprout Collective, a high-touch startup concierge supporting founders and leaders on marketing, team-building, and more. She previously served as chief marketing officer of GORGIE. During her career, Ms. Stauffer gained experience in various senior-level marketing positions with Food52, Equinox, and Estee Lauder.

“I’ve been working with the team in a fractional capacity since December, and I can’t wait to merge my roots in brick and mortar and hospitality, with 10 years of early-stage, startup, and pre-revenue experience in ecommerce and omni-channel,” Ms. Stauffer said. “Being in the wellness sector and blending these two chapters of my career feels perfect. Thank you to all the talented folks who’ve trusted me and been with me on this WorldSprings journey so far.”

Established in 2018, Flatiron Search Partners is a boutique executive search and growth advisory firm with offices in New York City and Denver. The firm leverages a cross-industry network to focus on key sectors: beauty, business services, consumer products/ services, consumer healthcare, education and training, experiential/ specialty retail, food and beverage/restaurants, franchising, health and wellness/active lifestyle, hospitality and nightlife, and technology and SaaS. Flatiron leads recruitment efforts for CEOs and presidents, as well as executives and functional leads overseeing operations, customer experience, sales/revenue, marketing, training, HR, finance, product, technology, and real estate/development.

Bill Stauffer is co-founder and managing partner with Flatiron. He has spent the past 20 years scaling brands at various growth stages across the consumer, food and beverage, and healthcare sectors. He has experience working with founders, boards of directors, executive teams, and private equity/venture capital sponsors.

Joe Miller is also co-founder and managing partner with the firm. He has spent the last 10 years driving scalable business strategies for high-growth companies in the branded consumer space. He has a background in cross-functional management and financial analysis, and a track record of attracting and managing winning teams, driving operational execution, and achieving growth targets.

Chief Marketing Officers

Current business landscape demands have only increased the contribution from CMOs, according to the latest research report from Forrester and Heidrick & Struggles. The survey found that CMOs are building strong relationships with the head of product and research and development to prepare their organizations for digital disruption.

“We see CMOs moving beyond functional expertise to assume responsibility for driving overall growth within their organizations,” said Sheryl Pattek, vice president, CMO executive partner at Forrester. “They are evolving into key strategic partners on the executive team and know that collaboration with the rest of the C-suite will be instrumental to their success.”

Here’s a sampling of recent chief marketing officer searches taken from the Hunt Scanlon Media archives:

The Millard Group, which focuses on building executive teams for venture capital and private equity backed growth stage technology companies, has assisted in the placement of Sheridan Orr as the new chief marketing officer of Language I/O in Cheyenne, WY. “2023 marked a pivotal moment of expansion and visibility for Language I/O,” said Heather Shoemaker, founder and CEO of Language I/O. “With an amplified global marketing presence under Sheridan’s leadership, we are thrilled about the transformative potential of our 2024 roadmap to reshape how organizations connect across languages and geographies.” Ms. Orr is an experienced marketing executive specializing in International go-to-market strategy, performance marketing, crafting powerful product and brand stories, and leading high performing teams for B2B SaaS companies. She previously served as a managing partner at The GTM Collective and was the chief marketing officer of Built In for over three years.

Mercedes Chatfield-Taylor and Sarah Scheer of Artico Search have assisted in the recruitment of Dee Anna McPherson as the new chief marketing officer of Flock Safety. “Over the past year, Flock Safety has attracted an executive team with proven experience building the top-tier technology companies in their respective markets, and our current position as a multi-product, multi-market company reflects this breadth of expertise,” said Garrett Langley, Flock Safety’s founder and CEO. “As our new marketing leader, Dee Anna’s leadership positions us to make even greater significant strides toward leading the way into a safer future.” Ms. McPherson brings strong marketing expertise to the Flock Safety team. She most recently served as CMO at Invoca for the past three years, where she played a pivotal role in positioning the company as a leader in AI-powered conversation intelligence.

TurnkeyZRG has been retained by the Chicago Fire Football Club to lead in its search for a chief marketing officer. Allie Crone led the assignment. Coming off a record-breaking 2023 Season, Chicago Fire is seeking a data-driven and agile leader to join the executive team. Acting as brand steward, this role is responsible for developing and implementing branding, advertising, media, and promotion activities to generate ticket sales, leverage corporate partner collaboration and garner increased awareness and interest for the Club locally and globally. Additionally, the role will oversee marketing/brand strategies related to the Chicago Fire Foundation, Fire Pitch (recreational soccer facility), youth and recreational soccer and other Club endeavors, and will serve as the club’s primary liaison to the Major League Soccer marketing department and Soccer United Marketing ensuring the Chicago Fire remains connected with important initiatives and partnerships at the league level.