Black Diamond, Inc. promoted Mark Ritchie to the newly created position of chief operating officer (COO), where he joins CFO Robert Peay and CEO Peter Metcalf as one of the three senior executive officers. The company also disclosed several other promotions and hires aimed at supporting its growth, including its Fall 2013 launch of its first apparel line.


“As Black Diamond Equipment continues to grow we have both promoted from within and hired for newly created positions to bolster our business platform, invest in our product engine and augment our new apparel team,” says Peter Metcalf, President and CEO of Black Diamond Inc.

For nearly 20 years, Ritchie has thoughtfully led and innovated the global operational platform that supports the complex, yet highly efficient modern businesses of Black Diamond Equipment, Gregory Mountain Products and now, POC.


Additionally, Black Diamond promoted Zach Posner to VP of information technologies. In less than two years, Posner has transformed IT at Black Diamond to better serve the global organization. Wim de Jager has been promoted to managing director of Black Diamond Equipment Asia. Formerly director of operations at BD Asia, de Jager will now lead all manufacturing and distribution activities at Black Diamond’s subsidiary in Zhuhai, China.


Other promotions include: Lauri Hawkins, director of sourcing developing for Apparel; Doug Heinrich, director of line planning; and Kasey Jarvis, director of design.

Black Diamond also welcomes new hires Laura Deuser, Joe Moak and Sven Mostoegl to several newly created positions.


Deuser joins the apparel team as an apparel textile engineer, formerly serving as a research assistant in the Center for Research on Textile Protection and Comfort.

 

Moak joins Black Diamond as design engineer and brings over a decade of experience. Most recently Moak worked at Apple, where he led the product design group and was instrumental in bringing the Mac Mini to production.

 

Lastly, Mostoegl joins Black Diamond Europe as the apparel product manager. Mostoegl’s recent experience includes working as a product category manager for The North Face. In that role, he worked alongside TNF’s global team in Europe, the Middle East and Asia on a wide array of special projects including product creation and merchandising.

“With this strong class of new positions, promotions and hires,” Metcalf said, “we continue to evolve our structure, strengthen our team and advance those who have displayed leadership qualities capable of driving this organization forward to our boldly envisioned future.”