Brooks Sports plans to hire a CFO and will reorganize roles among its top management under a plan to better grow globally and enhance e-commerce sales. Under the reorganization, the running footwear brand changed its structure to support four key global functions: product, marketing, operations and corporate. Outside of these functional groups, it set up four business divisions: North America, EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa), international business development and global e-commerce.
As part of the changes:
Jim Weber, CEO, will focus on the long-term strategy for Brooks Sports. He will be charged with scaling the companys corporate culture for future success. Weber, who reports directly to Berkshire Hathaways CEO Warren Buffett, will lead the Brooks corporate, product and marketing global functions as well as the Moving Comfort division;
Brooks will add the role of CFO to the executive team. The CFO will lead corporate development efforts and oversee the legal and it functions;
Current Brooks COO David Bohan becomes president & COO. He Bohan will oversee the global operations function as well as the three regional business divisions and the global e-commerce division;
Current Brooks SVP of Marketing Dave Larson will take on an expanded role as Brooks SVP product and marketing;
In 2014, Brooks will create a subsidiary in Canada allowing for greater alignment across North America. To lead this business, Dan Sheridan recently assumed the role of general manager, North America. Sheridan oversees national and Specialty Running sales for both the U.S. and Canada. Corporate realignment, regional customer service, retail and events marketing, and retail merchandising reports directly to him.
The changes come on the heels of a successful 2012 during which Brooks drove a 43-percent footwear revenue increase in the U.S and a 41-percent revenue increase on a local currency basis across its European markets.
To lead in performance running, we need to scale our business and culture for continued success, said Weber. We believe these changes lay the foundation for us to focus on key areas of our business and empower us to exceed the expectations of our partners, employees and the industry, today and in the future.
