Outdoor Industry Association (OIA) Board of Directors ratified its new slate of directors at its board meeting last week during the Outdoor Retailer show in Salt Lake City, Utah. A total of ten open seats were filled. Six board members were elected by OIA members and four seats were appointed by the board.


Mike Wallenfels, president of Mountain Hardwear, will continue to lead the executive committee. The officer slate is comprised of: Dan Templin, CFO of VF Outdoor, as first vice-chair; Peter Metcalf, CEO of Black Diamond Equipment, as second vice-chair; Martha Groszewski, former CFO of Patagonia, as treasurer; Brian Cousins, president of Cloudveil, as secretary; Will Manzer, President and CEO of Eastern Mountain Sports, as strategic planning and finance chair; Mark Leopold, group VP of Johnson Watercraft, as member and external relations chair and Jay Steere, outdoor performance GMM of Timberland, as Foundation chair.


Newly-elected board members are Scott Sible, president of Merrell/Patagonia Footwear, and Sam Solomon, president and CEO of The Coleman Company. They join returning elected board members Peter Metcalf, CEO of Black Diamond Equipment; Gordon Seabury, CEO of Horny Toad; Bill Sweasy, chairman and CEO of Red Wing/Vasque and Brian Unmacht, executive VP of sales, service, store development and logistics of Recreational Equipment, Inc.


Fred Clark, CEO of Thule North America; Don Hildebrand, CFO of Confluence Watersports; Beaver Theodosakis, president of prAna and Zohar Ziv, COO of Deckers Outdoor Corporation, will fill the four appointed seats. In addition to the executive committee, the new board members join current OIA board members Sutton Bacon, CEO of Nantahala Outdoor; Tom Barney, CEO of Osprey Packs; Blair Clark, senior VP of Smith Optics; Paul Fish, president of Mountain Gear; Joe Flynn, VP sports group of Nielsen Business Media; Jeff Johnson, GMM of Cabela’s; Jennifer Mull, CEO of Backwoods; Bobbie Parisi, VP marketing of Keen Footwear; Tony Post, CEO of Vibram; Pam Schwarzbach, principal of The Ascentials and Steve Shuster, global brand manager of W.L. Gore.


Making a conscious effort to balance the interests and expertise of its constituents, OIA welcomes both new and returning board members that offer strong operational, strategic and financial experience to better serve its members’ needs and the industry as a whole.

“Our goal this year was continuity and building deep operational and financial experience,” said Frank Hugelmeyer, OIA president. “As we look to the future, we’ll continue to build on gender diversity and increasing representation from the specialty retailer and rep community to ensure the entire supply chain has a strong voice.”


The new board members will help guide industry programs that ensure the health of the supply chain; increase youth participation in the outdoors; expand and protect the recreation infrastructure; encourage social responsibility and grow sustainable business practices, among others.


Moving off the board are Kim Coupounas, CEO of GoLite; Debbie Motz, executive director of Eastern Outdoor Reps Association; Roody Rassmussen, president of Petzl America and Jeff Weidman, co-owner of Rutabaga Paddlesports.


“The exiting board members represent a combined 25 years of insight, wisdom and experience in the outdoor industry,” remarked Hugelmeyer. “They’ve been engaged, active board members committed to moving our industry forward and we thank them for their tireless service and inspired leadership.”


The new board, who meets monthly, looks forward to serving OIA members and the industry as a whole and welcomes feedback on issues facing the industry and ways to best work together to help OIA ensure the success and growth of the outdoor industry. Those interested in serving on the OIA Board of Directors should contact an OIA staff member or current board member. To contact the board, please visit the OIA website.