Wally Barker has taken over as managing director of Five Ten’s worldwide businesses while retaining his current title of chief financial officer. Five Ten also announced that Laura Sanders has been reinstated to lead the company’s global marketing efforts.
Charles Cole, Five Ten’s founder and president, commends Barker's efforts since joining the company two years ago and welcomes him in his new role as managing director.
“He is of a rarity among outdoor industry executives in that he has both an impressive climbing and professional careers,” says Cole. “Wally was formerly president and CFO of Quiksilver Japan so he is no stranger to action and lifestyle sports. He has been a catalyst in developing Five Ten as a truly global brand.”
Five Ten also announced the appointment of Laura Sanders to lead the company’s global marketing efforts.
“Laura is the perfect fit to do the job– given her vast experience within the company running global sales and later running global sport marketing,” Barker explains. “Five Ten has grown to the point where we need a new approach. The business is now integrating sales and marketing at the market level but segregating global marketing to focus around product categories.”
Sanders will be assisted by Luke Hontz, who has been promoted to Bike Category Manager and will lead Five Ten’s global marketing campaign for bike, bike lifestyle and mountain bike. David Kassel, Five Ten’s newly-appointed Outdoor Category Manager, will also report to Sanders, and will lead the global charge for climbing, backcountry and watersports footwear
Five Ten also announced a restructuring of customer service for its growing customer base in the Germany.
“Effective 1 January, 2014; Five Ten started serving its customers directly from our European headquarters in Herzognauch, Germany,” reports Jeremie Blondel, Five Ten’s director of European Operations. Blondel continues, “The Reiner Kopf Agency has done a great job as our commercial sales agent in Germany for the last 15 years and we thank him for his dedicated service.”
This latest development for the German market follows a similar announcement last month in regards to Five Ten’s UK business. The new office has been up and running in the Sheffield area by Jan. 1; and begin transitioning customer service responsibilities from Bigstone Ltd, Five Ten’s current commercial sales agent in the UK. The new UK operation will be run by Mo Overfield who previously oversaw Five Ten’s accounts while at Bigstone.
“The German and UK markets are two of our largest customer bases in Europe and we are very excited to be able provide both dedicated customer service and sales teams that focus on specific product categories,” says Blondel.
