Clarus Corporation, owner of the Black Diamond, RockyMounts, MaxTrax, and Rhino-Rack brands, has named Tripp Wyckoff as the new managing director of the company’s Adventure segment, which includes the RockyMounts, MaxTrax and Rhino-Rack. The promotion is effective immediately.
Wykoff joined the company in July 2024 and has served as general manager of the Americas, responsible for managing and growing each Adventure brand in the U.S., Canada and Latin America.
The Adventure segment’s current managing director, Mathew Hayward, will depart the company, effective June 30, 2025, to pursue other professional opportunities.
Wyckoff has over 20 years of operating experience in senior leadership roles, including as the president of Vertical Supply Group (VSG), a branded arborist equipment provider and distributor. He reportedly led VSG for over nine years, building the industry’s direct-to-consumer platform, growing earnings by 5x, integrating 11 acquisitions, and stewarding the business through two private equity transactions.
Wyckoff served eight years as VP of sales, marketing and service at Thule, where he reportedly grew the brand significantly in the U.S. and was primarily responsible for bringing global initiatives to market, building one-on-one customer relationships and integrating key acquisitions.
“While at Thule, he guided multi-channel, go-to-market strategy development and execution, and he co-developed and implemented a value-added sales training program for the global sales team,” Clarus said in a media release.
“We are excited to promote leadership from within and appoint Tripp Wyckoff to head the Adventure Segment moving forward,” Warren Kanders, executive chairman, Clarus Corporation, said. “Since joining Clarus last year, Tripp has helped drive critical progress in the U.S. organization and demonstrated the business-building skills necessary for Adventure to reach its fullest potential. A highly experienced leader, he has a wealth of knowledge, operating discipline and expertise in taking brands of our size to the next level.”
Kanders noted that Wyckoff previously led a private equity-backed business through multiple growth cycles and exits, with deep industry experience through various leadership roles at Thule.
“With the full support of the board, senior management, and the Adventure team, I firmly believe Tripp is the right leader to execute the next phase of the Adventure growth strategy, as we continue to see an attractive long-term opportunity underpinned by a large and growing addressable market across multiple verticals,” Kanders continued.
“We thank Mat Hayward for his important contributions during his tenure, which included establishing an entirely new product development and product commercialization process that will continue to guide us, and wish him all the best in his future endeavors.”
The change in leadership marks a significant shift for the Adventure segment, which has been Australia-centric since Clarus first acquired Rhino-Rack and Maxtrax. Hayward, based in Sydney, Australia, helped engineer other down-under brand acquisitions, including Tred Outdoors and may have precipitated the move after the RockyMount acquisition.
Clarus said in a May 8 release of 2025 Q1 results that the Adventure segment slowdown in its OEM and core Australian wholesale market businesses contributed to lower Q1 sales, but it expects investments in innovation to enhance new product introductions in the second half of the year.
First quarter sales in the Adventure segment decreased 28 percent to $16.1 million, compared to $22.3 million in the year-ago quarter. The decrease was reportedly due to lower demand from global OEM customers and a challenging wholesale market in Australia for Rhino-Rack and Maxtrax brands, combined with a prior-year large wholesale customer in North America not recurring in 2025, which was partially offset by $1.3 million of sales from the recent acquisition of RockyMounts.
“We have made operational and organizational progress to start the year at Adventure, although conditions for this business remain challenging. We expect that our investments in new product development initiatives and enhanced fits will ultimately drive accelerated brand penetration globally,” Kanders concluded.
The company could also see more opportunity in the U.S. as Thule falters in the market. The company said in its Q1 report that the North American market “clearly worsened” and “remained challenging” during the quarter for Thule as organic sales in North America declined 13 percent year-over-year.
Sales of Thule bike-related products performed well, while sales in the cargo boxes and roof rack category declined marginally. Growth was positive in Canada, while sales fell in the U.S.
Thule said it recently implemented several changes to increase its competitiveness in the market.
A new sales organization is reportedly in place with a management team responsible for North America. At the same time, Thule is implementing efficiency measures by closing the office that the company included in the acquisition of Case Logic in 2007 and integrating its employees at the regional office in Connecticut.
As reported by SGB Executive, the company recently filed a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Notice with the State of Colorado, indicating that the company will eliminate 22 positions in its Longmont, CO location in Boulder County. The action is expected to occur by October 3, 2025.
The Notice said the affected positions included product managers and designers, product development, pattern designers, image and video managers, graphic artists, CSM logistics analysts, EDI programmers, and system administrators.
Sounds like opportunity.
Images courtesy RockyMounts/Clarus Corp., LinkedIn
