Pony International LLC (Pony) announced the appointment of Kevin Wulff as its Chief Executive Officer.
Wulff is an experienced athletic footwear industry executive, who most recently served as President and C.E.O. of American Sporting Goods, where he led a successful restructuring of the company and repositioning of its brands. Earlier, Mr. Wulff held several senior positions at Nike Inc., including as President of Nike Canada and Sr. Vice President/General Manager-USA. He also served as the Chairman and C.E.O of the Women's Tennis Association.
Wulff commented, “I am excited by the opportunity to lead this extraordinary company with its strong global sports heritage. Pony is one of the few athletic footwear brands that has successfully outfitted world class athletes across a broad spectrum of competitive disciplines, including basketball, football, soccer, baseball, boxing and gymnastics to name a few. I look forward to rebuilding Pony to its former glory, while also looking at strategic alliances to grow and compliment the Company.”
Pony's outgoing C.E.O., Jim Stroesser, stepped down, as previously planned, to pursue other opportunities.
In transactions completed in April, 2006, Infinity Associates LLC and Symphony Holdings Ltd. acquired 100% of Pony International. California based Infinity Associates and Hong Kong based Symphony Holdings have teamed up in previous acquisitions, including Converse Inc. in 2001.
Pony was founded in 1972 and quickly became one the most distinctive sports brands in the world. Among the many athletes who wore Pony shoes were Pele, Muhammad Ali, George Foreman, David Thompson, Darryl Dawkins, Spud Webb, Dan Marino, Lawrence Taylor, Reggie Jackson, and Tracy Austin. Pony is a designer, distributor, and marketer of high performance and casual athletic footwear and apparel for men, women, and children utilizing the tagline of “Pony Up.”
