Marketing headhunters, tml Partners, are delighted to have partnered with Scholl Wellness Company to appoint Meryl Downey as Global & North America Social Media Director

Scholl Wellness Company (SWC), backed by Boston-based private investment firm Yellow Wood Partners, is a global leader in footcare and personal wellness with a brand heritage spanning over a century. Following the reunification of the international Scholl enterprise and North American Dr. Scholl’s operations, the company operates across more than 50 markets, maintaining direct operational hubs across seven key territories including the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and Australia. Backed by Yellow Wood Partners’ consumer platform strategy, SWC is executing a targeted growth agenda designed to modernise classic household brands, elevate cultural relevance, and accelerate direct-to-consumer and retail growth across mass, pharmacy, and ecommerce channels.

The Challenge

As consumer journeys increasingly shift toward digital discovery, SWC sought to evolve from conventional, calendar-based promotional activity toward an integrated, social-first marketing model. For iconic wellness brands, driving sustained household penetration requires connecting with younger consumer demographics who discover products via trusted creator voices and cultural trends rather than traditional promotional mechanics.

Global Chief Marketing Officer, Duarte Dias, identified the requirement for an accomplished digital leader to oversee all global social media strategy while directly leading execution across North America. The mandate encompassed paid social campaigns, organic channel development, and comprehensive creator ecosystems across macro, micro, and expert tiers.

The challenge lay in finding a candidate who combined high-level cultural storytelling with analytical performance marketing discipline. The role demanded a leader capable of establishing end-to-end influencer governance, briefing and managing specialised social agencies, aligning cross-functional teams across brand equity and commercial go-to-market functions, and measuring success against tangible brand health and commercial conversion metrics. Operating within a private equity-backed environment, the incoming director required the entrepreneurial drive to build a modern capability from the ground up.

The Solution

Emma Calder, Head of Consumer Markets at tml Partners, was retained to deliver a targeted executive search. Concentrating the search on the New York Tri-State talent ecosystem, tml Partners mapped high-performing digital, social, and content leaders across top-tier beauty, personal care, and consumer wellness businesses who possessed experience across global matrices and North American retail channels.

The evaluation process centred on identifying candidates who had demonstrated measurable business outcomes through social transformation: shifting brand perception, cultivating authentic creator advocacy, and orchestrating full-funnel paid and organic integration that directly drove retail sell-out.

The search culminated in the appointment of Meryl Downey as Global & North America Social Media Director. Meryl joined SWC following more than a decade of senior digital leadership at L’Oréal, where she most recently served as Global Director of Campaigns & Content for Biolage Professional. During her tenure at L’Oréal, Meryl spearheaded global brand relaunches and built scalable social and creator frameworks across North America and more than 20 international territories. Her background in beauty and consumer-first digital innovation provides SWC with the creative instinct and operational structure necessary to elevate brand equity.

About tml Partners: Specialist Headhunters for Marketing and Commercial Roles

tml Partners are specialists in executive search with access to a global network of commercial, marketing, communications, brand, product, and digital leaders. Our team works with businesses ranging from high-growth investor-backed organisations to blue-chip enterprises to develop high-performing in-house teams.

As a B Corp certified search firm, we deliver retained search, interim management, and functional team builds across international markets. supported by our offices in London and New York.

Emma Calder partners with consumer & CPG brands, healthcare companies, and private equity portfolio businesses to appoint board and executive-level commercial, marketing, and digital leaders.

To learn how tml Partners can help you, get in touch.