Sharon Fox joins the board of the omnichannel fitness brand with members from Drybar, Focus Brands, iHeartMedia and Nike.
The omnichannel fitness franchise, CITYROW has named Sharon Fox to its expanded director and advisory boards. Sharon will join the rest of the board with Kat Cole (formerly Focus Brands), Michele Laven (iHeartMedia), Michael Landau (Drybar) and Danny Tawiah (Nike).
- Kat Cole, former COO and president of FOCUS Brands and board member of several companies including Human Co, Slice and Milk Bar.
- Michele Laven, chief human resources officer and chief diversity officer at iHeartMedia.
- Michael Landau, co-founder and executive chairman of the board of directors at Drybar.
- Danny Tawiah has held senior executive global leadership roles, including Nike global VP of digital brand & innovation. He is currently managing director of Mandalah U.S. West Coast.
“Sharon is credited with building highly-recognized consumer brands and we feel incredibly fortunate that she has agreed to apply her knowledge and expertise to CITYROW as we continue to expand our operational footprint across our omnichannel network–including our in-person studios and digital fitness platform,” said CITYROW CEO and founder, Helaine Knapp.
“As a female-founded business, it is important that we surround ourselves with experienced and strong female leaders like Sharon.”
A strong advocate of females on company boards, Fox has served on the board of aden + anais, Schleich and Criteo. She joins the CITYROW board after the company has just raised $12m from a Series A round of funding.
Fox brings her 25 years of experience to the role and is currently the growth operating partner at Stride Consumer Partners where she supports founders and teams to constantly improve performance. She has also served as the chief marketing officer (CMO) of two mission-driven brands, Freshly and Melissa & Doug. She also had a stint at Amazon, leading the post-acquisition integration of the Quidsi platforms, diapers.com and soap.com. Fox began her career at Kraft Foods and also worked for some time at Unilever. She earned a B.S. in industrial operations engineering from the University of Michigan and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
“Helaine and her team have established an incredible brand, passionate community and omnichannel fitness offering,” said Fox.
“I look forward to helping the CITYROW team strengthen and expand their brand awareness, reach and presence. CITYROW has a tremendous opportunity to become one of the de facto leaders in both the explosive rowing and overall digital fitness category.
“CITYROW’s extensive offering of diverse fitness content underscores their core mission to make a total body high intensity exercise routine that is low impact, results driven and sustainable.”
“I believe that the future of fitness is omnichannel, and CITYROW is one of the few companies that has the right team and strategy in place to bring this model to the masses,” said Cole.
“Having built global omnichannel franchises throughout my career, I am excited to bring my experience and work with Helaine and her team to expand CITYROW’s presence across the nation.”
CITYROW has amassed 4,000 monthly subscribers and sold 65 franchises throughout the U.S. and expects to open another 12 company-owned and franchised locations within the next 12 months.
