Cotopaxi Grows Executive Team with New Chief Impact Officer Lindsey Kneuven
SALT LAKE CITY, UT (PRWEB) June 17, 2015 -- Cotopaxi, the leading direct-to-consumer outdoor gear and apparel company with a social mission, announced today the growth of its executive team with new hire Lindsey Kneuven as Chief Impact Officer. Lindsey will oversee all aspects of Cotopaxi’s humanitarian mission, direct the philanthropic strategy and grant making, develop and oversee nonprofit partnerships, implement initiatives to strengthen the company’s broader social engagement, and incorporate social impact holistically into the Cotopaxi Questival event series.
Kneuven brings a wealth of experience in both the philanthropic and international development sectors. Most recently she served as a senior member of the Corporate Responsibility team at Silicon Valley Community Foundation, the largest community foundation in the country with over $6 billion in assets under management. At SCVF, Lindsey developed and directed global giving and community engagement strategies for leading companies and was the primary author and project director for the foundation’s research report on human trafficking in the Bay Area. Prior to SCVF, Lindsey lived and worked in East Africa where she led the education team at Nuru International, an NGO focused on ending extreme poverty in remote, rural regions. Kneuven also led the global grantmaking strategy for Salesforce Foundation and was part of the team that built their social enterprise model.
“We are thrilled for this next phase of growth for the company,” said Davis Smith, founder & CEO of Cotopaxi. “Lindsey’s experience in the nonprofit world and in directing businesses in their social giving strategies will allow us to fulfill our commitment to helping eliminate extreme poverty. We are looking to her to act as a spokesperson for our brand and as a voice for those that we have committed to helping in the developing world.”
“At Cotopaxi, philanthropy and social impact are authentic, central components of the business model,” said Lindsey Kneuven, Chief Impact Officer of Cotopaxi. “In addition to giving, Cotopaxi is creating an engaged community that shares a love of adventure and the wild coupled with a compassion for humanity and commitment to alleviating poverty. I’m excited to join this team and help drive serious impact around pressing global issues.”
In conjunction with the new hire, Cotopaxi announces today the “Adventure for Good” grant in partnership with Polartec®. This new initiative is designed to celebrate adventurers who have demonstrated an outstanding commitment to their global community through volunteerism. Grant recipients will receive a $3,000 adventure stipend for a trip that incorporates exploration and social impact along with $1,000 in gear. A $2,000 grant will also be given to an outstanding nonprofit in honor of the adventurer’s social contributions.
“Polartec and Cotopaxi have aligning goals, to create long lasting products while limiting our industry’s impact on the environment without compromising on high performance. Through collaborations with Cotopaxi and others we’ve worked together to increase the use of recycled fabrics like Alpha and Power Stretch, turning 1 billion plastic water bottles into highly desirable outdoor gear. It’s a start but we still have a long way to go with more than 40 billion water bottles being tossed in the trash this year in the US alone,” said Darren Josey, North American Marketing Manager at Polartec. “This is exactly why Polartec has decided to support Cotopaxi’s ‘Adventure for Good,’ together we can reduce the impact our industry has on natural resources, create more stewards of the outdoors, and research additional ways to preserve the planet we love to explore.”
A number of Cotopaxi’s products are made with Polartec® Power Stretch® fabric and Polartec® Alpha Insulation.
About Cotopaxi
Cotopaxi is an outdoor company with a social purpose. Their mission is to create innovative outdoor products and experiences that fund sustainable poverty relief, move people to do good, and inspire adventure. Cotopaxi maintains a strong focus on ethical sourcing and sustainable practices, partnering closely with factories to achieve the highest standards. Learn more at http://www.cotopaxi.com.
About Polartec, LLC
Polartec, LLC is the premium provider of innovative textile solutions. Since inventing modern synthetic fleece in 1981, the engineers at Polartec have continued to push the limits of fabric technology. Today, Polartec supplies the world with the most advanced fabric innovations. Polartec products range from advanced lightweight wicking fabric, to insulation and weather protection textiles and are utilized by leading apparel brands, the U.S. military and other global militaries, flame resistance, work wear, and contract upholstery markets. For more information, visit polartec.com.
Lauren Ianuzi, Moxie Communications Group, 901.606.8211, [email protected]
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