Kelly Ryan Barton

“Kelly was hands down one of the best bosses I have ever had. She saw the potential that I had despite not having the exact industry experience she was looking for. We quickly became a very close team and accelerated the business at BabyBjörn North America within a few short months. Kelly is kind, professional, reliable, smart, savvy, trustworthy, and an incredible leader. She always led her employees with such grace by teaching, guiding, and shaping them into the workers she believed they could be. There is a fine line for managers to not be too over bearing while also allowing their employees to either make their own mistakes and to grow from them and Kelly mastered that balance. She was always there to assist in decision making, but also trusted her subordinates to also find their way in making the right decision. Anyone would be lucky to have Kelly as a part of their organization and should be honored for her to be a part of their team!”

“I had the oppotunity to report into Kelly during her time as the Head of Happy Socks North America. From day 1, I could tell that Kelly had the experience and industry knowledge to grow a profitable business, but equally as important she knew how to lead and create a thriving culture. My experience at the company had seen high turnover and multiple people leading North America and Kelly provided the stability and support we needed to grow our brands and customer base. Kelly has a unique ability to quickly analyze a decision from all angles to understand how the end to end customer experience would feel - having someone this dynamic is rare . Kelly was a main reason that we were able to secure business with new accounts and re-build relationships with accounts we had previously lost with old management leading - this was something we had not been able to accomplish until Kelly led the NA business. While at Happy Socks, we were able to strategically grow revenue and margin simultaneously, while also building our brand reconginition through inspiring campaigns and partnerships. She was a key reason for the revitalization of the brand across the globe. I greatly appreciated the fact that Kelly treated me as an equal and allowed me to take on more responsiblity to grow my career. She made me a better manager and professional. She challenged me to find new ways to grow our revenue with strategic accounts and was always willing to present our needs and challeges to our CEO and Board. I would jump at the opportunity to work with Kelly again in the future . Any company looking for a sales, marketing, operations and people leader should find a way to have Kelly lead their business.”