The Vitamin Shoppe has appointed retail marketing veteran Kimberley Gardiner as executive vice president and chief marketing and growth officer, effective immediately.
Gardiner joins the Secaucus-based specialty health and wellness retailer from Tractor Supply Company, where she served as senior vice president and chief marketing officer since 2022. During her tenure, she spearheaded brand and digital transformation initiatives, strengthening the retailer’s “Life Out Here” positioning and scaling its loyalty program, Neighbor’s Club, to more than 40 million members. Her extensive career also includes executive marketing leadership roles as chief marketing officer at Volkswagen of America, as well as senior brand positions with Mitsubishi Motors, Kia Motors, and Toyota Motor Sales.
In her new role reporting directly to chief executive officer Sharon Leite, Gardiner will oversee brand strategy, creative, performance marketing, e-commerce, CRM and personalization, customer loyalty, and corporate communications. She will spearhead efforts to leverage customer data and insights to accelerate acquisition and deepen engagement across both physical stores and digital channels as the brand approaches its 50th anniversary.
“Kimberley is an exceptional marketing leader with a proven ability to reinvent established brands and turn customer insights into measurable growth,” Leite said. “As The Vitamin Shoppe prepares to celebrate its 50th anniversary next year, we have an opportunity to build on decades of customer trust and loyalty while reimagining how we engage with the modern wellness consumer.”
Gardiner holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communication from Mills College and an MBA from Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business and currently serves on the National Retail Federation Marketing Executives Council and the PopTech Advisory Board.
“The Vitamin Shoppe has spent nearly five decades helping millions of people navigate the changing world of health and wellness,” Gardiner said. “I’m excited to build on that legacy and bring fresh thinking to how we tell our story and connect with consumers across retail and digital.”
