Dr Martens has named Katie Morton, former Burberry global vice president for online to offline, as its global customer director. The appointment follows a recent series of leadership hires aimed at reshaping the footwear brand’s approach to its audience.
Morton is set to join the leadership team on 26 October. She will report directly to chief brand officer, Carla Murphy. The new role focuses on strengthening the brand’s consumer-centric strategy on a global scale.
Her primary mandate involves ensuring more people discover and connect with the brand. The goal is to deepen long-term relationships through a refined operating model. This shift prioritizes consumer insight and experience as drivers for relevance and loyalty.
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Before this move, Morton spent 17 years at Burberry. Her roles there included director of development for digital commerce and ecommerce manager. She most recently served as global vice president for online to offline. For the last 10 months, she worked as an independent consultant, advising brands like Fortnum & Mason on consumer strategy and international growth.
Murphy highlighted Morton’s background in the appointment announcement. “Katie has an outstanding track record helping some of the world’s most iconic brands better understand and serve their consumers,” Murphy said. She noted that Morton brings a powerful combination of consumer insight and commercial expertise. “She brings a powerful combination of consumer insight, commercial expertise and deep experience leading transformation at scale, alongside a proven track record of building high-performing teams and capabilities that deliver meaningful business impact,” Murphy added.
The hiring move sits within a broader effort to enhance the brand’s capabilities for growth. It is part of a strategy to respond to evolving consumer needs more effectively. This specific hire is one piece of a larger puzzle involving recent additions to the product and brand leadership teams. The company aims to create memorable brand experiences that build a deeper connection with customers globally. It’s a calculated step to ensure the organization’s internal capabilities match its external ambitions. If the integration goes smoothly, these changes could signal a more data-driven approach to retail operations over the coming quarters, moving beyond traditional marketing metrics to focus on sustained engagement.
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Murphy described the appointment as an important step in enhancing the capabilities that support the growth strategy. “Together with the recent appointments across our product and brand leadership teams, Katie’s arrival strengthens our ability to better understand our consumers, respond to their evolving needs and create memorable brand experiences that deepen our connection with our consumers around the world. We’re thrilled to welcome her to the team,” she said.
This hire follows earlier appointments this month. Isadora Versiani was named global product design director, while Nadia Svensson took the role of global merchandising and product director. These three new leaders form the core of the updated management structure. The company has not announced further changes to the executive team at this time.
