The Talent Studios Fills Senior Positions for Roots and Mizzen+Main

January 22, 2025 – The Talent Studios has completed two executive searches for design leaders at apparel brands, Roots and Mizzen+Main. Bea Nam has been placed as head of design at Roots and Denis Lates as director and head of design at Mizzen + Main. Heather Porter and Jeremy Cohen led both searches for The Talent Studios.
Ms. Nam brings two decades of fashion design, product development and brand strategy experience. She formerly led Design at women’s activewear brand, Athleta, and has over two decades of experience from Calvin Klein, Hugo Boss and Alexander Wang. Ms. Nam will work closely with the Roots senior leadership and product teams to ensure product design that maintains the brand’s integrity by preserving its rich heritage, and focused commitment on quality and craftsmanship and product innovation.
Mr. Lates holds 20 years of experience in contemporary fashion design leadership. After gaining early experience at Urban Outfitters and Abercrombie & Fitch, he led men’s private label design at Nordstrom prior to growing the men’s franchise at Old Navy. Mr. Lates will work closely with Mizzen+Main’s president and its SVP of merchandising to continue to grow the brand as a leader in classically styled modern performance wear across active, dress and formal categories.
Roots is an iconic 50-year old Canadian outdoor-lifestyle brand and a Searchlight Capital portfolio company. Starting from a small cabin in northern Canada, Roots has become a global brand with over 100 corporate retail stores in Canada, two stores in the United States, and an eCommerce platform, roots.com. They have more than 100 partner-operated stores in Asia, and also operates a dedicated Roots-branded storefront on Tmall.com in China.
Mizzen+Main, founded in 2012 is a native digital direct-to-consumer performance fabric menswear brand, and a portfolio company of L Catterton.
Headquartered in Dallas, the company creates menswear out of comfortable, easy to care for, performance fabrics and pairs them with modern tailoring. They have 10 retail locations, and over 600 retailers across the U.S.
Business-To-Consumer Focused Search Firm
The Talent Studios is a business-to-consumer focused retained executive search firm, working across consumer technology, digital commerce, four-wall commerce & service businesses, iconic brands, entertainment, media & content and consumer services. Its vertical focus includes: fashion & apparel, food & beverage, beauty & personal care, lifestyle brands, action sports, fitness/wellness, creator economy, media & content, digital and physical consumer services (healthcare, FinTech, education, two-sided marketplaces).
Related: The Talent Studios Recruits Chief Marketing Officer for Summit Golf Brands
The firm’s clients include: Apollo Global Management, Advent International, Andreessen Horowitz, Bain Capital, L Catterton, Red Bull, Mattel, Disney, Burton Snowboards, Restoration Hardware, Pure Barre, TOMS Shoes, Boardriders, Aston Martin, Fanatics, Health-Ade Kombucha, SmartyPants Vitamins, Lulus.com, Edmunds.com, Philz Coffee, and Public Goods. Representative investor partners include Apollo Global Management, Advent International, Andreessen Horowitz, Bain Capital, L Catterton, Institutional Venture Partners, Summit Partners, HIG Growth, Searchlight Capital, Norwest Equity Partners, and North Castle Partners.
Mr. Cohen co-founded The Talent Studios in 2011 following early search experience at global executive search firm DHR Global, where he served as a principal in the firm’s retail/consumer and private equity practices. He has led pivotal leadership searches that have propelled privately held clients through growth to exit, as well as large scale transformation and performance enhancement at large public companies and brands. In addition to search, Mr. Cohen assists clients with performance management and assessment strategy.
The Talent Studios Recruits CEO for ZICO Coconut Water
The Talent Studios has placed Chris Gallant as the new CEO of coconut water and hydration brand ZICO Coconut Water. Jeremy Cohen and Serena Smith led the assignment for The Talent Studios. Past CEO Tom Hicks will transition to chief commercial officer, continuing to lead ZICO’s sales and distribution efforts. “We are excited to welcome Chris to ZICO” said Mark Rampolla, chairman and founder of ZICO and co-managing partner of Ground Force Capital. “The rest of the board and I are confident that Chris will be an amazing leader who will help take ZICO through its next stages of growth. I also want to sincerely thank Tom for his leadership at ZICO and his unwavering dedication to rebuilding the team, brand and business to date. Tom will now be able to focus entirely on continuing to build distribution and expanding upon our best-in-class retail partnerships, two areas in which he absolutely excels.”
Kelli Telling is co-founder and managing partner at The Talent Studios. She began her career in General Electric’s emerging leaders’ program and was a business unit operator at GE Lighting. Ms. Telling went on to lead technology product development at several venture-backed companies in Silicon Valley. Thereafter, she moved into successive management roles at Deloitte Consulting. Ms. Telling has substantial experience conducting leadership searches in finance, technology and marketing, and is a talent contributor to the Transworld Business publication.
Ms. Porter is an associate partner at The Talent Studios. She is a seasoned executive search consultant, having conducted over 200 searches encompassing critical roles in finance, operations, sales, marketing, and senior leadership. Her career spanning over a decade, Ms. Porter began her search career at boutique firm Charles Aris focused on searches in private equity, strategy, and corporate development.
Related: The Talent Studios Recruits CEO for The Princeton Review
Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief and Dale M. Zupsansky, Executive Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media