Joining her are independent reps in other key territories including John Segal in Northern California, Avert Guldemond in New England and Jeff Darby in Southern California, Nevada and Arizona. Le Bent’s Head of Sales, Steve Walshe, will support the U.S. team relocating from Australia.
“The new model allows us to focus on not only winter but year-round service,” stated Walshe. “By combining a dedicated representative in Gurnett with a professional team of experienced, on-the-ground independent reps, we feel we’ll be able to achieve the degree of service and talent that retailers and our brand require.”
Gurnett steps into her role following more than 10 years of retail experience, most recently at Sales Guys in Denver.
“Le Bent has a great opportunity to become a key player in the U.S. market in a number of different channels,” explained Gurnett. “Coming into this role I plan to put a high level of service and maintain long-term relationships with all of our retailers. Being surrounded by the froth that comes from all of us at Le Bent is the perfect amount of stoke I want to share with our U.S. customers.”
“With so many challenges facing our international partners, it’s tough to develop a realistic picture of the genuine issues across the various markets from 20,000 miles away,” explained Walshe. “Years of experience have shown us that maintaining a close relationship with our retailers is crucial to our success and understanding the market. For this reason, we feel it is best that a representative from the brand’s leadership leaves the cozy confines of the relatively COVID-free Australia to step into the trenches with our sales team and retailers. We’re going to get through this season together.”
