Outdoor Cap names Jeanelle Harris president; CEO Jim Haworth to join NOWDiagnostics

Bentonville-based headwear company Outdoor Cap announced Tuesday (Jan. 25) that it has promoted chief sales officer Jeanelle Harris to president, effective immediately.

She succeeds Jim Haworth who announced his upcoming departure from Outdoor Cap to become executive chairman for Springdale-based healthcare testing company NOWDiagnostics.

Harris has worked in multiple leadership roles in her 17-year career in the consumer products industry. The Arkansas native joined Outdoor Cap in 2019 as senior vice president of retail sales. She was named chief sales officer in 2021. Before joining Outdoor Cap, she spent 14 years at Olivet International where she was executive vice president overseeing sales and operations and president of its sustainable subsidiary, Ecotech.

With Outdoor Cap, she has been responsible for the successful restructuring of the sales, supply chain and customer success departments, reorganizing them to increase sales, promote collaboration and put priority on the customer experience, according to a news release.

“Outdoor Cap is extremely fortunate to have had someone of Jeanelle’s capacity and expertise within our organization prepared to take on this role,” said Paul Mahan, founder and chairman of Outdoor Cap. “I know she looks forward to getting started, and I am excited for the energy and vision she will bring to the total organization.”

Harris graduated from the University of Arkansas and John Brown University. She lives on a family farm with her husband and four children.

“I am humbled by the opportunity to walk alongside the Outdoor Cap teams as we lead forward based on a strong foundation set by Mr. Mahan and a trajectory of growth set in motion by Jim Haworth,” Harris said. “I’m excited and grateful for the opportunity to serve our customers in this elevated capacity.”

Haworth has been president and CEO of Outdoor Cap since August 2016. He has 30 years of experience across multiple industries and businesses including Conn’s, Professional Bull Riders, Sears, Lotus and Walmart.

“I’m proud of the way Outdoor Cap and the team here have responded to the challenges of the past couple years and thrived under unprecedented circumstances that came our way during my time here,” Haworth said. “Jeanelle has proven herself to be an incredible asset to Outdoor Cap, and I look forward to seeing where she leads this organization in the coming years.”

Haworth and his wife live in eastern Oklahoma at their Willow Springs Ranch.

“I am thankful for Jim’s contributions to Outdoor Cap,” Mahan said. “He has been instrumental to expansion during his tenure, helped steady our company through a very difficult time in the world, and for that, I will always be grateful. I wish him the best in his future endeavors, professionally and personally.”

Established in 1977, Outdoor Cap has grown to more than 400 employees and has over 14,000 business customers across multiple channels of distribution in the retail, team and promotional products markets.