As new sustainability regulations reshape the apparel and consumer goods industries, Worldly is expanding its leadership team to provide solutions that support global brands and manufacturers with compliance and social and environmental improvement opportunities.
Supply chain sustainability insights and data platform Worldly announced the appointment of two new hires to its executive team. Kevin Vranes joins the company as Chief Product Officer, and Jay Gaines as Chief Marketing and Content Officer. As Worldly ramps up growth initiatives, Vranes and Gaines will play key roles in the development of the company’s product innovation and go-to-market strategies, respectively, to deliver customers solutions they urgently need to reduce their environmental impact and navigate today’s evolving regulatory requirements.
Worldly’s new executives CPO Kevin Vranes and CMO Jay Gaines will helm core aspects of the platform’s expansion to help brands and manufacturers drive tangible social and environmental improvements at global scale while meeting regulatory requirements.
“Our mission is to help the consumer goods industry make clear, credible progress toward sustainability goals, and we believe that at the heart of this effort is comprehensive, actionable data,” said Scott Raskin, CEO of Worldly. “Kevin and Jay will expertly contribute to Worldly’s development of the Higg Index along with new innovative solutions and their delivery to the market in ways that resonate with our customers and underline our dedication to supporting them towards a compliant and sustainable future.”
Worldly is dedicated to delivering accurate primary data required for regulation — including the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive — and surfacing actionable insights for businesses to improve their sustainability performance. Vranes and Gaines will each helm core aspects of the platform’s expansion to help brands and manufacturers drive tangible social and environmental improvements at a global scale while meeting regulatory requirements.
Vranes, an accomplished software executive with a Ph.D. in ocean and climate physics, was most recently involved in leading the development of Salesforce’s Net Zero Cloud product and bringing it to market. He has also served in executive and leadership roles in the high-tech, cleantech, energy and environmental sectors and served as a Congressional Science Fellow on Capitol Hill. Vranes understands how to navigate between climate- and energy-focused positions in academia, consulting and software — experiences that will inform his work at Worldly developing solutions for the industry that align with the new regulatory landscape in the sustainability sector.
“Worldly is one of the leading platforms for driving positive impact on the planet,” said Vranes. “I’m thrilled to help drive the development of solutions businesses need, from reducing carbon emissions to advocating for human rights in the global supply chain. I joined Worldly because of how well-positioned it is to expand the scope and reach of its impact.”
Read More: SalesTechStar Interview with Mike Bernard, CMO at Vendavo
Gaines brings globally recognized expertise for implementing successful growth strategies for businesses from early-stage startups to global, billion-dollar enterprises. Most recently, Gaines was CMO at AgentSync, a customer-focused technology company that leads innovation across the highly regulated insurance industry. Previously, as CMO and Research Fellow of Sirius Decisions, which Forrester acquired, he led the development and delivery of frameworks, strategies and data-driven insights to business executives, helping clients make decisions and implement strategies to maximize their growth and brand value. At Worldly, he will lead and bring to market data insights that help consumer brands and manufacturers strategically leverage sustainability data to make better decisions and embed sustainability data into their day-to-day operations.
“With its wealth of global supply chain data, Worldly is perfectly positioned to help businesses drive strategic social and environmental sustainability decisions and prepare for regulatory change at this critical time when brands need support navigating regulatory changes,” said Gaines. “In this exciting role, I’m thrilled to bring my expertise to a company that’s driving positive change and global impact.”
The appointment of Vranes and Gaines comes during an important year of growth for Worldly, following the appointment of CEO Scott Raskin in July 2023. With Raskin at the helm, the last 12 months have seen Worldly focus on deepening customer value through more extensive engagement and new customer-centric product development, with the launch of Facility Data Manager in May and investment in solutions that will help businesses measure scope 3 emissions quickly with primary data at scale.
