Christy Sports, a specialty retailer of ski and snowboard equipment, apparel and accessories, appointed Matt Gold as its new CEO, effective February 2017.
Photo courtesy Amer Sports
Gold will join Christy Sports with more than 20 years of experience building consumer businesses and brands at Amer Sports Corporation, one of the world’s leading sporting goods company.
Founded in 1958 and headquartered in Lakewood, CO, Christy Sports is one of the largest winter sports specialty retailers in the nation, with more than 50 locations in Colorado, Utah and Washington. The appointment of a new CEO has been a key part of the company’s strategic plan over the last year. Gold will succeed Patrick O’Winter, a Christy Sports shareholder since 1995 and CEO since 2002, when he bought control of the company.
O’Winter will serve as chairman of the board and remain actively engaged in the business when Gold steps into the CEO role.
With proven experience in brand management, new business development, M&A, sales & marketing and retail & e-commerce, Gold is a seasoned executive leader whose prior career experience will be leveraged to help further build and execute Christy Sports’ growth strategy. Gold currently resides in Shanghai, China and will relocate to Colorado in February.
During his career at Amer, he most recently served as general manager, Asia Pacific where he was responsible for the full financial performance, integrated go-to-market operations and overall regional strategy development for the company and its brands, including Salomon, Wilson Sporting Goods, Atomic Skis, Arc’teryx, Mavic, Suunto and Precor.
Gold was also a member of the Amer Sports Executive Board since 2010.
“Matt’s success at Amer proves his ability to successfully scale businesses. He understands everything that is needed to make a business bigger and stronger, from the systems and processes to the technology and operations, to the sales and marketing efforts needed to achieve growth,” O’Winter said. “His core leadership philosophy nicely aligns to what we have already implemented at Christy, and I am confident he will work hard to retain, if not further build, our team’s dedication to customer loyalty and execution of our mission to exceed customer expectations through outstanding service, and longstanding relationships with passionate snow sports enthusiasts. The entire Christy Sports team is excited for him to come on board in February.”
Lead photo courtesy Christy Sports Park Meadows
