Backcountry.com has hired Mark Koppes as VP of merchandising. Koppes is fresh off a five-year stint at Columbia Sportswear, where he held three consecutive VP positions: men's apparel, USA apparel, and, ultimately, global apparel.
Koppes spent the 15 previous years at Nike, where he worked his way up from product line manager, through high posts in merchandising and marketing at Nike Europe, to GM of sport apparel back at company HQ in Portland, OR. He started off his career at a Nordstrom.
“Customers are the true test of any brand. Marketers can easily breathe too much of their own air, and that keeps them from recognizing opportunity,” Koppe said. “If you're, say, a national outdoor retailer based in Utah and you talk to hikers at a trailhead in North Carolina or skiers in the lift line at Sugarbush and they don't know who you are, you have some work to do. I really like engaging customers and companies together to get things right.”
