Todd Adams will become the CEO of Sports, Inc. on January 1, 2011. Adams replaces Dave Salvi who will stay on as an advisor to the CEO for one year. Salvi has been at Sports, Inc. since 1990, and has been CEO since 1999.
Adams has been at Sports, Inc. since 2000. Prior to that he was a team salesman in Wyoming for Universal Athletic Service headquartered in Bozeman, MT.
Barry Cory of Decker Sporting Goods in Mason City, IA, who is the President of the Sports, Inc. Board said, “We hate to see Dave go. He has been a tremendous asset to Sports, Inc. throughout his career; especially as our CEO. But, one of Dave's goals as CEO was to insure that when the time came there would be a smooth transition at CEO. Obviously he feels the time is right and we trust his judgment.”
He added, “Dave and the Board of Directors have a lot of confidence in Todd. He is the obvious choice to succeed Dave. Dave and Nancy (Wilson, SI Vice-president) have worked closely with Todd since he started at Sports, Inc. The Board and the membership appreciate the continuity that having Todd as CEO will provide.”
Adams started at Sports, Inc. as the director of the Sports, Inc. Athletics Division. At the time he took over, Sports, Inc. had about 90 members in the team business. Today, Sports, Inc. has 202 team dealers operating 299 store/sales locations. Combined annual sales exceed $600 million. There are 1,381 total sales people from Sports, Inc. members working with team accounts across the nation.
In 2007, Adams was promoted to Vice President of Marketing. In that role, he has overseen all the merchandise divisions at Sports, Inc., both athletics and outdoors. “Todd has worked with our Outdoors Divisions on a daily basis. He has a good understanding of the needs of our members and vendors in those categories,” Cory said. “And, we have staff that has been running our Outdoors Division programs that are proven performers. We expect things to continue in a positive direction for us both in Athletics and Outdoors.”
