Jonathon Lythgoe

Strategy.
Growth.
Operations.

I build business strategies, open new channels for growth, and shape operations to support expansion or adapt to change.

Boise, Idaho · Global experience

EXPERIENCE AT EVERY SCALE

Whether scaling globally
or building locally.

MAJOR MULTINATIONALS

Global expansion.

American Eagle · Under Armour
CASETiFY · Starbucks

STARTUPS & SMALL BUSINESSES

Strong foundations.

CRYO Hong Kong · Cookie Department
Hong Kong Children’s Discovery Museum

Strategy and operational know-how for the next stage of your business.

ACROSS OPERATING MODELS

  • Owned
  • Licensed & franchise
  • Wholesale
  • Joint ventures
  • E-commerce

GLOBAL EXPERIENCE

Across markets.
Across cultures.

Operating leadership and partner-led expansion across 34 documented markets.

Americas

  • United States
  • Canada
  • Mexico
  • Chile
  • Peru
  • Colombia
  • Costa Rica
  • Dominican Republic
  • Guatemala

Europe

  • United Kingdom
  • Ireland
  • Greece
  • Russia

Africa

  • South Africa
  • Egypt
  • Morocco
Global experience across 34 documented markets34MARKETSAMERICAS · EMEA · ASIA PACIFIC

Middle East

  • Saudi Arabia
  • United Arab Emirates
  • Kuwait
  • Qatar
  • Oman
  • Bahrain
  • Israel
  • Jordan
  • Lebanon

Asia Pacific

  • Mainland China
  • Hong Kong
  • Japan
  • South Korea
  • Taiwan
  • Thailand
  • Philippines
  • India
  • Australia

Experience across American Eagle Outfitters, Under Armour, CASETiFY and independent engagements.

SELECTED WORK

Strategy.

Set a direction the business can execute.

UNDER ARMOUR

Aligning strategy with how the business runs.

Authored a five-year global retail strategy and redesigned how teams worked through restructuring.

Explore the work

The problem. A shift in business direction required a different operating model, with Global Retail leadership moving from Baltimore to Hong Kong amid a 20% reduction in corporate roles.

What I did. Authored the five-year Global Retail strategy and redesigned functional responsibilities. Created job descriptions and cross-functional operating procedures so regional teams had clearer support and decision rights.

5 years

Global retail strategy

PSYCHO BUNNY · CONSULTING

Getting cross-functional projects moving.

Built a leadership-approved project framework so teams could define the work and know who owned delivery.

Explore the work

The problem. Cross-functional improvements needed a common way to define scope and coordinate decisions.

What I built. A project methodology covering problem definition, stakeholder discovery, RACI ownership, milestones, pilot testing and launch criteria. Paired this with a phased operations-improvement roadmap.

What it enabled. Leadership-approved tools gave teams a shared approach to execution and clearer accountability for moving initiatives forward.

Clear
ownership

A repeatable approach from scope to launch

DISCOVERY MUSEUM · COOKIE DEPARTMENT

Turning business ambitions into a practical plan.

Built annual planning tools that connected revenue goals with operating decisions for independent businesses.

Explore the work

Discovery Museum. Built revenue and visitor forecasts, with donor planning tools, to support annual business and funding decisions.

Cookie Department. Developed sales forecasts and cross-channel planning tools, connecting targets to execution priorities. The work provided a basis for regular review and adjustment.

The value. Practical forecasts and review tools helped leaders connect their ambitions with the decisions needed to run the business.

Business
planning

A financial foundation for growth

SELECTED WORK

Growth.

Find a workable path to expansion.

AMERICAN EAGLE OUTFITTERS

Opening new routes to market.

Negotiated $1.3B in licensing and distribution agreements, adapting commercial models to make international expansion possible.

Explore the work

Commercial scope. Led market-entry and partner work across EMEA, with responsibility for an approximately $217M portfolio and support for 50+ store openings. The $1.3B is contractual agreement value, not realized revenue.

European master franchise. Helped develop the structure that enabled AEO’s EU re-entry, navigating the complexities of EU competition requirements. The framework connected a regional partner network with clear commercial and operating responsibilities.

India with Aditya Birla. Led market-entry work for the India launch. AEO announced the license agreement in September 2017; the first India outlet was announced in June 2018, after my AEO tenure ended.

AEO Kids with Fox Group. Oversaw development and launch of the concept with Fox Group in Israel, extending AEO into a new customer segment.

Saudi Arabia with Alshaya. Created a men’s-only AEO format that enabled additional locations in shopping centers that did not permit mixed-gender stores. Saudi Arabia was the only market for this concept. A format-specific opening count has not been established.

$1.3B

Contractual agreement value negotiated

CASETiFY

Scaling without outgrowing the organization.

Directed global retail growth from 14 to 28 stores in eight months while redesigning the organization to support it.

Explore the work

The problem. Rapid expansion needed an operating structure that could keep pace across markets.

What I did. Redesigned global retail responsibilities across regional leadership, store operations and development. Coordinated customer-experience priorities with marketing and creative teams, with oversight of a reported $49M operating budget.

The result. The fleet doubled in eight months. Career records also report a 25% year-over-year increase in sales per square foot.

14 → 28

Stores in eight months

CRYO HONG KONG · CONSULTING

Converting customer demand into sales.

Helped improve customer acquisition and conversion, contributing to a reported 33% revenue increase.

Explore the work

The problem. The business needed a more deliberate approach to attracting customers and converting interest into sales.

What I did. Developed customer-acquisition and conversion strategies, supported by team training and recurring sales/KPI reviews. Work included a partner-referral program.

The result. The engagement contributed to a reported 33% revenue increase and a record sales month.

33%

Reported revenue increase

SELECTED WORK

Operations.

Build a business that runs well.

UNDER ARMOUR

Restarting a global business through disruption.

Led the global COVID reopening program across owned and licensed stores, supporting an estimated $60M in revenue above conservative forecasts.

Explore the work

The problem. Stores across regions needed a coordinated way to reopen safely while local conditions changed rapidly.

What I led. Built executive go/no-go criteria and a regional rollout framework. Combined safety pilots with field training, operational readiness checks and risk controls across company-operated and licensed locations.

The result. Reopening supported an estimated $60M in revenue above conservative forecasts, based on career-reported internal figures. The program translated a global business-continuity priority into decisions and practical field execution.

$60M

Estimated revenue above conservative reopening forecasts

AMERICAN EAGLE · INDEPENDENT CONSULTING

Building operating systems that scale.

Developed onboarding and field processes for a large store network, including an internal translation workflow credited with $1M in annual savings.

Explore the work

Onboarding. Created management onboarding and global frontline training. Management onboarding was associated with approximately 10% lower turnover. Enterprise training and communications supported a network of approximately 1,300 stores.

Merchandise testing. Developed testing processes and clearer field guidance, contributing to approximately 20% better testing compliance.

Translation. Built an internal translation workflow for training and communications, reducing reliance on external support and generating an estimated $1M in annual savings.

Opening readiness. Oversaw the global new-store-opener program. The London launch included three flagships within three weeks, a hiring effort involving 200 employees and more than 1,000 interviews, and custom US training for 20+ UK managers.

Applying the same discipline to growing businesses. For Psycho Bunny, designed operating roles and workforce-planning tools alongside management onboarding and a phased improvement roadmap. For Cookie Department, implemented weekly business reviews and operating reporting.

$1M

Estimated annual operating savings

STARBUCKS

Turning around multi-site performance.

Led a ten-store district from approximately the bottom performance quintile to the top, with all ten locations profitable.

Explore the work

The problem. A district of approximately 200 employees and $19M in annual sales needed stronger, more consistent performance.

What I changed. Established manager coaching and operating routines that made performance expectations and follow-through clearer. Led field execution through the Back to Starbucks transformation.

The result. District standing improved from approximately the bottom quintile to the top, with profitability across all ten locations.

10 / 10

Locations profitable

Selected work from prior employment and consulting engagements. Figures include career-reported estimates; agreement values are not realized revenue. No employer or client endorsement is implied.

ABOUT

Strategy, put to work.

I’m Jonathon Lythgoe. For more than 20 years, I’ve led strategic initiatives and operations inside global companies and advised growing businesses.

I work with leaders to resolve complex operating problems and move important initiatives forward.

EXPERIENCE INCLUDES

Employers

  • American Eagle Outfitters
  • Under Armour
  • CASETiFY
  • Starbucks
  • Express
  • Seldat Fashion

Consulting clients

  • Psycho Bunny
  • CRYO Hong Kong
  • Cookie Department
  • Hong Kong Children’s Discovery Museum
  • Re/Nation

Commercial partners & brands

  • Aditya Birla Group
  • Alshaya Group
  • Fox Group
  • Eagle Europe
  • NA-KD
  • Ben Simon
  • Sabina Musayev
  • Imperial Fashion
  • Dixie

GET IN TOUCH

Let’s connect.

Executive roles and project-based strategy & operations engagements

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