Former REI CMO Vivienne Long Joins Close Collins as Companies Ask Fewer Leaders to Do More
Seattle executive coaching firm, formerly Close Cohen, names Long to lead its work with leadership teams as the average
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SEATTLE, Nov. 09, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Close Collins (formerly Close Cohen Career Consulting), a Seattle-based executive coaching firm for senior leaders and leadership teams, today announced that Vivienne Long, former Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer of REI Co-op, has joined as Managing Director, Close Collins for Organizations, and as an executive coach.
The appointment comes as companies remove management layers and widen spans of control. The average U.S. manager now oversees 12.1 direct reports, up from 8.2 in 2013, and 97% of managers also carry individual work, a median of 40% of their time, according to Gallup. In Korn Ferry’s 2025 Workforce survey, 41% of employees said their company had cut management layers. AI is accelerating the shift: Gartner predicted that through 2026, 20% of organizations would use AI to flatten their structure, eliminating more than half of their current middle management positions. The result: fewer people with time to develop leaders, and new and promoted executives expected to deliver from day one.
At REI, Long led a marketing organization of more than 100 people. She previously spent a decade as a Vice President at Starbucks. She is a Professor of Practice at the University of Washington Foster School of Business and holds an MBA from the Wharton School.
“Companies haven’t stopped needing great leaders. They’ve stopped having time to build them,” said Long. “With fewer managers and bigger teams, a new VP gets weeks, not quarters, to show results. The teams that perform make priorities clear, give every outcome a named owner and make progress visible. That’s the work we do with leadership teams, inside their real work rather than in a workshop.”
“Since 2015 we’ve helped senior leaders win their next role. More and more, the harder part is what comes after: performing in it, with less support around them,” said Laura Close, founder and CEO of Close Collins. “Vivienne has led at REI and Starbucks scale. She brings that to companies that need their leaders and leadership teams to perform now.”
The firm will release new data on senior leader and team performance in early 2027.
About Close Collins
Close Collins (formerly Close Cohen Career Consulting) is a Seattle-based executive coaching firm for senior leaders and leadership teams, founded in 2015 by Laura Close. Its coaches are former senior leaders from companies including Amazon, Google, Starbucks, REI and Zillow. The firm works across Candidate Performance, Leader Performance and Team Performance through The Close Collins Method, serving Director-through-C-suite leaders and the organizations they lead. Close previously co-founded Included, an AI people-analytics company acquired by Phenom. Learn more at closecollins.com and Close Collins for Organizations.
Media contact: Laura Close, Close Collins · laura@closecollins.com · (206) 697-1691
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