Chip Bergh is the former president and CEO of Levi Strauss & Co. and the author of A Levi’s Story: Leading the Revival of an Iconic Brand (Harvard Business Review Press, March 2027), which tells the inside story of Levi’s turnaround and distills his career lessons into six tenets of what he calls “brand-driven leadership.” When Chip took over in 2011, Levi’s had been struggling for fifteen years and was weighed down by debt. He is credited with making the brand cool and returning the company to profitable growth, growing revenue 40%, increasing market cap five-fold, and taking the company public. Before Levi’s, Chip spent 28 years at Procter & Gamble, where he helped lead the creation of Swiffer, turned around Mr. Clean and Old Spice, and led Gillette’s global blades and razors business after P&G acquired the company for $57Bn. Chip began his career as a U.S. Army Officer in West Germany. He is especially proud that dozens of his direct reports have gone on to become CEOs of other companies.

Today, he is a senior lecturer at Harvard Business School and serves on several boards, including HP Inc. (as chairman), e.l.f. Beauty, Lululemon Athletica, and Pinterest. He is recognized for carrying forward Levi’s long tradition of taking public stands on issues facing society and the world, including launching the Safer Tomorrow Fund to prevent gun violence, and in 2019 Fortune ranked him 16th on its list of the World’s 50 Greatest Leaders.