Exxel Outdoors, a privately held collection of outdoor recreation gear brands, expanded its Big Market & Outfitter Group with management promotions and new hires as well as a fresh brand approach to bring heightened focus, innovation and speed to market, said Tory Upham, general manager.
Upham hired David Hirst, who holds more 10 years of leadership experience in outdoor recreational gear sales, as VP of sales.
In addition, three veteran Exxel staff have been promoted. Russell Rowell is now VP of product and marketing, and Marily Melis has been upped to marketing manager for the entire business division. Nils Davis is now the director overseeing the Outfitter Group’s sales efforts.
“Dave, Russ, Marily and Nils bring the right mix of insight, experience and entrepreneurial spirit I’ve been looking for in selecting these key leadership roles within the Big Market & Outfitter Group,” remarked Upham. “We’ve now built the organizational structure and talented team needed to deliver a fresh brand approach and innovative products that will increasingly engage our retailers and consumers.”
Big Market & Outfitter Group is the largest business group of Exxel Outdoors, consisting of two divisions. Outfitter targets the sportsman, hunting and fishing markets with its Slumberjack (SJK) and Master Sportsman brands. Big Market serves the needs of recreational adventurists with a camping and water sports focus including brands such as Wenzel, Suisse Sport, X2O Sports, Insta-bed and Exxel Kids. Exxel also holds several licensing agreements including Serta airbeds, Disney, Marvel, Dreamworks and Sanrio.
The Outfitter Group will also be adding more sales staff to serve its growing sportsman, hunting and fishing categories.
Photo courtesy Slumberjack
