Burton named veteran employee Beth Steele as vice president of national accounts and Giant USA executive Elysa Walk vice president of special accounts Friday.
The dual appointments mark the first time the Vermont snowboard company has appointed two vice presidents in its U.S. sales department. Steele and Walkwill report to Burton President, Donna Carpenter.
“We’re so excited about our evolving U.S. internal sales structure, which includes two new VP roles one who focuses on our national accounts and the other on our specialty retail partners,” says Donna Carpenter, President of Burton. “We’re even more excited about the incredible professionals who are taking on these new roles: Burton and industry veteran Beth Steele as VP of National Accounts and Giant Bicycle’s former General Manager, Elysa Walk as our new VP of Specialty Accounts. We’re confident that this new structure will elevate our level of support for our valued U.S. retail partners in all channels of distribution. Congrats to Beth, and welcome Elysa!”
First up is long-time Burton and industry veteran, Beth Steele, who was recently promoted to the newly created role of Vice President of Sales, National Accounts. Beth has nearly 20 years of experience in the winter sports industry and sales management, both internally at brands and in the field as a sales representative. During her role as Burton’s National Sales Director, Beth has strengthened Burton’s relationships with key national accounts. Outside of Burton, Beth also held past leadership positions at the brands Commando and Orage.
In an announcement Tuesday, Walk disclosed plans to step down as general manager of Giant USA Nov. 6 to take an undisclosed position at Burton. During her seven years in that role, she was instrumental in growing Giant brand revenue by 60 percent, launching the Liv bike brand for women and maintaining positive and consistent profits. At Burton, Elysa will develop and implement the strategic direction for Burton’s U.S. sales in the specialty channel. She will also manage and lead Burton’s independent sales agencies in the U.S. Elysa will begin her new role at Burton on November 9 and will be based at the company’s headquarters in Burlington, Vermont.
