Dean leads global HR, Legal, and Finance Shared Services for Patagonia Inc. based in Ventura, Ca. reporting directly to CEO, Rose Marcario. As an officer on the core leadership team, Dean serves to further Patagonia’s unique business model proving that companies can “Do Well and Do Good”, as well as preserve and grow the unconventional values outlined in Founder Yvon Chouinard’s acclaimed book, Let My People Go Surfing.

Prior to Patagonia, Dean worked for Sears Holdings Corporation, a Fortune 50 company – serving as Chief Human Resources Officer. Leading up to Sears, Dean was CHRO for Fossil, Inc. during a time of high growth and international expansion. Leading up to his time at Fossil, he served in variety of progressive HR and Management roles for Pier 1 Imports, Pearle Vision and Procter & Gamble.

During his career, Dean’s perspectives on the opportunities within human capital management have been featured in The Economist, NBC Nightly News, Fast Company, NPR Morning Edition, The Wall Street Journal and various other national publications. The work of his HR teams has led to Brandon Hall’s Gold Award for Innovation in HR as well as SHRM’s prestigious HRM Impact Award.

Dean has a BS in Speech/Organizational Communication from The University of Texas at Austin and has served as a Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law Workforce Science Fellow and is on the Executive Education Advisory Board for USC Marshall School of Business. Dean also serves as an Independent Director on the Board of Directors for several companies including Cornerstone on Demand (CSOD:NASDAQ), a publicly traded Cloud-based HR technology platform, as well as Griffith Foods, a Chicago-based privately held company.

Dean is an avid surfer, hiker and swimmer and has been an active leader in his local community – currently residing in Montecito, CA with his husband Mark Stori.