Julie Averill

Julie Averill is a transformative leader who drives change through a unique leadership style that brings passion and culture in alignment with the business strategy. She is a strategist with global experience and extensive proficiency leading multiple companies through advanced stages of growth.

Ms. Averill is currently the Chief Information Officer and Executive Vice President at lululemon (NASDAQ:LULU), a global athletic apparel company. Ms. Averill joined lululemon in 2017 and has played a critical role in lululemon’s turnaround and growth story since that time. She has been the key technology leader of the digital transformation throughout the organization, built an organization to transform lululemon’s business and enhance guest experiences across the globe. She reports directly to the CEO and is a member of lululemon’s executive leadership team, presenting regularly to the Audit Committee and Board of Directors. At lululemon, Ms. Averill also has the responsibility for ensuring global information security and compliance.

She also serves as an Independent Board Director to INDOCHINO, a $100M custom apparel omnichannel retailer, a position she has held since 2018. In this role she has helped the company position itself for growth and next-stage funding, as well as develop strategic partnerships, including with Nordstrom. She also serves on the founders board of the University of Washington iSchool, working to bring information to solve the world’s biggest problems.

Prior to joining lululemon, Ms. Averill served as REI’s first Chief Information Officer. In that role she positioned the company for its next phase of growth. Building a strategy in alignment with the board, hiring in hundreds of experienced technologists, in under three years she led a major transformation that modernized and improved digital systems, supply chain, merchandizing, call centers, stores, and omni channel, positioning the co-op for growth and sustainability. Before REI, Ms. Averill spent a decade at Nordstrom where she held several key positions on the company’s IT leadership team and was responsible for driving their early e-commerce and omni-channel strategy, including leveraging store inventory for online orders, resulting in an incremental $250M sales in 2009 and earning her the Nordstrom MVP award. She has also been recognized for her innovation as Forbes One of Fifty Innovative Technology leaders in 2021; for her leadership in retail as CTO of the year in 2019 by Dive Awards; one of 2017’s Top Women in Retail Tech with RIS News; for her impact she has had in the Pacific Northwest by the Seattle Reign’s FC Legend award in 2017; and for her balance as an executive and a mother in Geekwire as Working Geek in 2016.

Ms. Averill earned her MBA from the University of Washington and a BA in computer science from Seattle Pacific University. She is also a mother of three and enjoys traveling, yoga and competitive sports. Julie is passionate about diversity and inclusion and currently sponsors lululemon’s LGBTQ2IA+ People Network. She also spends much of her time working toward global equity through various efforts.