Christopher J. McCormick graduated from Fairfield University in Fairfield, Connecticut in 1977 and started working in marketing at Garden Way, Inc. He stayed with the company until 1983 and he was their Marketing Manager at that time. In 1983, McCormick became the Assistant Advertising Manager for L.L. Bean and he worked his way up from that position over a period of 18 years. He was Vice President of Advertising and Direct Marketing, Chief Marketing Officer and finally, as of May, 2001, the first non-family member to be the President and CEO at L.L.Bean, Inc. He has moved L.L. Bean to completely new levels, launching the company’s international business, moving them into e-commerce and leading one of the company’s largest merchandising business units.