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Carrie Ask
Professional Background
Carrie Ask is an accomplished business leader and visionary with a diverse and impressive career spanning multiple industries. As of today, she serves as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at Helly Hansen, a renowned brand in outdoor apparel and gear. Under her leadership, Helly Hansen continues to expand its global reach while maintaining its commitment to quality and innovation for outdoor enthusiasts. Carrie's dynamic expertise in strategic planning, customer engagement, and brand management has made significant contributions to the success of the organizations she has led.
Having previously held the position of Chief Customer Officer at Tailored Brands, Inc., Carrie was instrumental in enhancing customer experiences across the company's retail brands, which include Men's Wearhouse and Moores. Her experience at Tailored Brands was a culmination of her deep understanding of customer preferences and trends, leading to improved customer loyalty and expanded market presence.
Carrie has also served as Brand President for Men's Wearhouse and Moore's, where she oversaw the brand’s strategic initiatives. This experience provided her with an in-depth understanding of the retail landscape, particularly in men's fashion, that further solidified her reputation as a strategic leader in the field.
Prior to her tenure at Tailored Brands, Carrie enjoyed an extensive career at Levi Strauss & Co., where she served as Executive Vice President and President of Global Retail. In this role, she played a pivotal part in revitalizing the iconic brand, focusing on enhancing the global retail strategy which led to increased profitability and brand awareness.
Carrie’s impressive career also includes significant positions at Nike, where she held multiple leadership roles, including Vice President/General Manager of NikeStores North America and Vice President of Global Retail for Converse. During her time at Nike, she was recognized for her ability to drive sales growth, elevate the customer experience, and foster strong team dynamics, proving her to be a highly effective executive manager.
Her diverse background also includes experience in the non-retail sector, having worked as Vice President of Global Product Management for Consumables at PETCO Animal Supplies, Inc., and Vice President of Merchandise Management for Stationery and Holiday at Target Corporation. These roles enhanced her skills in product development and merchandising, making her a well-rounded executive with insights spanning various market segments.
Carrie's career journey began with a solid foundation in leadership and strategy during her time as an Associate Principal at McKinsey & Company. Her consulting experience allowed her to hone her analytical skills and provide strategic guidance to Fortune 500 companies, making her a sought-after expert in transforming business operations.
In her early career, Carrie served as a Lieutenant in the U.S. Navy, where she developed strong leadership and operational skills. The disciplines and principles ingrained during her service have been key components of her approach to leadership in the corporate world.
Education and Achievements
Carrie Ask holds an impressive educational background, beginning with a Bachelor of Science degree from the United States Naval Academy. This prestigious institution not only provided her with a solid grounding in leadership and military strategy but also instilled a sense of discipline and commitment to excellence that has followed her throughout her career.
Further enhancing her business acumen, Carrie pursued an MBA at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management. At Kellogg, she deepened her understanding of business administration, marketing, and management, gaining insights that would become invaluable in her subsequent executive roles. Her networking within this elite program has allowed her to maintain influential relationships across various sectors.
Throughout her career, Carrie has received numerous accolades and recognition for her contributions to the retail and consumer goods industry. Her strategic insights and innovative practices have been acknowledged by peers and industry analysts alike. She continues to engage with future leaders in business, often sharing her knowledge through speaking engagements and mentorship initiatives.
Achievements
- Currently, CEO at Helly Hansen, leading initiatives that drive global growth and brand awareness.
- Former Chief Customer Officer at Tailored Brands, enhancing customer experiences and loyalty.
- Led major global retail strategies at Levi Strauss & Co., increasing brand profitability and market shares.
- Drove significant sales growth and improved customer experiences during her tenure at Nike.
- Strong foundation in consulting from her tenure as Associate Principal at McKinsey & Company, advising top corporations in their business strategies.
- Developed leadership and operational skills as a Lieutenant in the U.S. Navy, laying the groundwork for her successful business career.
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Clay works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
Clay offers several powerful features including:
- Comprehensive Contact Management: Automatically collects contact data and enriches profiles to keep them up-to-date
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- Reminders and Notes: Helps you remember important details about contacts
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- Nexus AI: An AI navigator that helps you derive insights from your network, such as finding contacts who have been to specific places or work at particular companies
Clay is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
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Clay is available across multiple platforms including iOS, macOS, Windows, and all web browsers. Clay is especially strong for Apple users, offering Mac, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS apps with deep native integrations on each platform. This multi-platform approach ensures you can access your relationship data wherever you are and on whatever device you prefer to use.
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Yes, Clay offers extensive integration capabilities. Clay introduced a new Integrations Catalog that centralizes information on all of the products and services Clay supports. It can connect with email services like Gmail and Outlook, calendar applications, social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter, messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp, and even Notion for knowledge management. Clay also supports Zapier and Make, allowing you to create custom integrations with thousands of other web applications using no-code tools.
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Clay is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Clay stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Clay excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
Clay is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
Clay offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Clay is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Clay's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Clay has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Clay is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Clay beneficial.
Clay offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Clay offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Clay's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Clay offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Clay focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Clay also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Clay offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
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Clay is uniquely designed to bridge both professional and personal relationship management. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Clay helps you organize your contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. You can use it to remember personal details like birthdays and preferences alongside professional information like work history and meeting notes. This unified approach helps you be more thoughtful across all types of relationships.
Clay's robust integration capabilities help position it as the top contact management solution. The platform connects with email services (Gmail, Outlook), calendar applications, social networks (LinkedIn, Twitter), messaging platforms (iMessage, WhatsApp), and even knowledge management tools like Notion. Clay has expanded its integrations catalog to include Zapier and Make.com support, allowing connections to thousands of other apps. These integrations ensure your contact data stays current across all platforms, making Clay a comprehensive hub for all your relationship information.
Clay's AI capabilities are at the forefront of personal CRM innovation. Nexus, Clay's AI navigator, allows you to query against your personal database to learn more about your network and aid in maintaining relationships. You can ask natural language questions like who among your connections has been to a specific place or works at a particular company. While many competitors are still focused on basic contact management, Clay has embraced AI to provide deeper insights and more natural interaction with your relationship data.
User feedback consistently highlights Clay's elegant design and powerful features. Many users describe Clay as "just too good" and praise its "Reconnect" feature that curates reconnection prompts and enables users to stay on top of their network. Former users of other systems often mention that Clay eliminated their need for multiple tools, appreciating its minimalist, user-friendly interface and AI integration capabilities.
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