Press & Media

Short Bio · 75 words

Julie Averill is the author of Chief Impact Officer and founder of Gold Thread LLC. As Global CIO of lululemon, she led the technology transformation that scaled the company from $2B to over $10B in revenue. She advises boards and CEOs at the intersection of AI strategy and organizational readiness, and serves as Independent Director at multiple companies. She lives in Bellevue, Washington, with her wife Cindy.

Long Bio · 150 words

Julie Averill spent nearly three decades proving that culture isn't soft — it's the infrastructure that determines whether transformation succeeds or fails. As Global CIO and EVP at lululemon, she led an eight-year transformation that grew the company from $2B to over $10B in revenue while building world-class technology teams across the U.S., Canada, China, and India. She won NASSCOM's AI Game Changer Award in 2024 for building lululemon's India Tech Hub with nearly 50% women engineers. Prior to lululemon, she served as the first CIO of REI and held senior technology roles at Nordstrom. Today, through Gold Thread LLC, she advises boards, CEOs, and founders on AI strategy and organizational transformation, and serves as Independent Director at INDOCHINO and the University of Washington iSchool. Her debut book, Chief Impact Officer, publishes June 16, 2026 through Microsoft 8080 Books.