IOE alums work in a wide range of industries, from consumer products to private equity to consulting, with many ultimately reaching executive leadership roles like Chief Executive Officer, Chief Operating Officer, and Managing Partner, to name a few. The panelists for this lunch and learn will share their lessons learned in defining a career path to the highest levels of management in industry organizations like Amazon, Crate & Barrel, McKenzie-Childs, Unilever, Stride Consumer Partners, and more.

Sharon’s Bio:
Sharon Fox joined Stride as a founding member in 2019. She works closely with the investment and portfolio company management teams to identify and develop growth opportunities. Over the last 20+ years, she has gained hands-on experience across a wide range of customers, brands, and companies – specifically in brand and performance marketing, brand strategy, eCommerce development, new product innovation, consumer insights, digital product features, customer service, and omni-channel management. Prior to Stride, she was the CMO at Freshly and Melissa & Doug. Fox also led brand management for several organizations, including Amazon, Ralph Lauren, and Unilever. Fox grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Fox has a BSE in Industrial and Operations Engineering from the University of Michigan and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Steve’s Bio:
As part of the founding team at Stride, Steve Berg helps entrepreneurs and founders build the next great consumer brands while building a next-generation investment firm. Prior to Stride, Berg was a Managing Partner at Castanea Partners. He joined Castanea because he wanted to work with entrepreneurs at a critical stage in their companies’ development to help them build their businesses. Prior to Castanea, Berg worked in the private equity group at Bain Capital, where I was involved with larger consumer and retail brands. He holds a BSE in Industrial and Operations Engineering from the University of Michigan and an MBA from Wharton.

John’s Bio:
John Ling has been the CEO of passion brand MacKenzie-Childs, a high-end home furnishings retailer since September 2015. Ling spent much of his career (15 years) at Crate & Barrel, a leading home furnishings retailer with retail, catalog, and e-commerce presence. Ling provided leadership for Crate & Barrel’s e-commerce platform, international retail operations, global sourcing, vendor management, and end-to-end supply chain operations. Prior to MacKenzie-Childs, he was CEO for Artissimo Designs, the leading provider of fashion-forward and licensed wall-art to retailers. Early in his career, Ling was at Frito-Lay for 10 years with roles in plant management, industrial engineering, distribution, transportation and manufacturing engineering and subsequently spent four years with Merck-Medco Managed Care in general management, customer service, and engineering roles. Ling has a BSE in Industrial and Operations Engineering from the University of Michigan and an MBA in Business Management with an emphasis in Finance from Southern Methodist University.