Water bottle manufacturer Takeya USA named John Sanchez, previously vice president of global product strategy at Oakley, as its new chief executive in July.
Sanchez succeeds John Lown, who will continue as executive chairman of the board. The Costa Mesa-based company, established in 2008, announced the leadership transition in August.
Takeya designs and produces reusable food and beverage containers under both its namesake brand and ThermoFlask, the latter which debuted in 2015.
Prior to his year-run at Oakley, Sanchez held leadership roles in product strategy and operations at several eyewear and optic brands since 1990 including Ray-Ban, Serengeti, Bollé, Bushnell, Zeal Optics and Costa Sunglasses – which is where he began working under Oakley and Costa owner EssilorLuxottica.
A month ago, Sanchez posted on LinkedIn about his departure from Oakley noting the end of his sunglasses career.
“In my 20s, I was simply looking for a job. I found myself on an assembly line building Ray Ban Sunglasses…” he wrote, adding that he realized he was most likely the “last true Ray Ban OG” still working in the industry during his last days at EssilorLuxottica.
“John comes to us with a deep understanding of consumer behavior, product innovation, and global brand building — making him uniquely qualified to lead Takeya as we enter our next chapter,” Lown said in a statement. “He is a proven leader with the infectious vision and executional excellence we need.”
Lown, who in 1990 created food storage company Snapware, was traveling in Japan when he met the original Takeya founder, Hiroshi Taketani. The two partnered to establish Takeya in the U.S., more than 50 years after the Japanese manufacturer first started.
Sanchez will oversee all aspects of the U.S. business as well as Takeya’s engineering development office in Osaka and its distribution operations center in Ohio.
“My immediate focus will be to build a high-performance team who are as excited as I am to usher this amazing brand into its next chapter,” Sanchez said.
Other priorities include driving product innovation, building up its digital-social following and enhancing independent wholesale partnerships, according to the company.
“The future global Takeya team will be driven by those who are passionate about consumer needs, purposeful design and inspirational brand building to redefine the possibilities of the reusable food and beverage container market,” Sanchez said.
Executive Changes
Orange County’s retail landscape has seen a handful of other executive changes this year.
Tilly’s Inc. in Irvine appointed Nate Smith as its new CEO, effective in August, a year and a half after former CEO Ed Thomas retired in January 2024.
When Thomas left, company co-founder Hezy Shaked returned as interim CEO. He will now transition back to executive chairman (NYSE: TLYS).
Smith was most recently CEO at Marolina Outdoor Inc. and prior to that, he worked at Boardriders Inc. as president of its Americas division from 2017 to 2024. He also worked at Oakley for about five years.
Irvine’s Xponential Fitness Inc. also named a new leader in August following a rocky year. Mike Nuzzo came from Texas-based Eyemart Express to replace Mark King, who resigned for health reasons after being recruited to help stabilize the fitness studio franchisor (NYSE: XPOF) in 2024.
Before Eyemart, Nuzzo spent seven years at Petco as chief financial officer and later as chief operating officer, involved in launching the company’s in-store veterinary hospital concept, its 2016 sale transaction, the 2021 initial public offering and international expansion.
