Columbia Sportswear Company appointed Susan S. Parham as vice president of global apparel, accessories and equipment for the Columbia brand, succeeding Mark Koppes who has left the company to pursue other interests.
Parham joins Columbia with more than 25 years of experience in the apparel industry. Most recently she has served as president of Lessons Learned, a consulting firm she founded in 1998 that focused on developing the business aptitude of global product professionals ranging from design to sales. Clients included Columbia Sportswear Company; multiple Nike divisions globally; Williams-Sonoma, Inc., including its Pottery Barn and Elm Street divisions; Under Armour; Gap; Lucy; Joseph A. Banks; Liz Claiborne; and several other well-known consumer brands.
Prior to founding Lessons Learned, Parham held several leadership positions during a nine-year tenure at Nike, including director of U.S. apparel merchandising, leading a team of 40 merchandisers that drove U.S. revenues from $350 million to $1.2 billion over a three year period. She also served as general merchandising manager of Nike Retail and divisional merchandising manager for women's apparel. Early in her career, she spent six years in New York as account executive and marketing manager with Liz Claiborne, launching the company's hosiery division.
“We are very excited to welcome Sue Parham to Columbia Sportswear and deeply grateful to Mark Koppes for his leadership and commitment over the past four years,” said Mick McCormick, executive vice president, global sales and marketing, to whom Parham will report. “Sue's proven leadership and teambuilding skills will be invaluable as we continue to build a world class apparel organization and product creation process to accelerate the pace of innovation we bring to outdoor consumers.”
“The privilege of working in a consulting role with Columbia's product and marketing teams for the past nine months has allowed me to see the global potential of the Columbia brand,” said Parham. “I look forward to the opportunity and the challenge of leading the apparel, accessories and equipment teams to realize that potential.”
