OIWC identified the judges of this year’s OIWC Pitchfest, where women are invited to pitch ideas for outdoor sporting goods products and services  to a panel of well connected industry leaders with proven business success, expertise in new product development and product to market systems, and a commitment to supporting entrepreneurship.

This year's judges are:

  • Jill Layfield, CEO of Backcountry
  • Koel Thomae, Co-founder/Chief Aussie Officer of Noosa Yoghurt
  • Matt Compton, Technology Entrepreneur and Investor
  • Dan Nordstrom, CEO of Outdoor Research
  • Jerry Stritzke, President and CEO of REI

Finalists will be chosen based on their initial applications and invited to attend Pitchfest in Park City on the eve of Outdoor Retailer. During the event, entrepreneurs from new, emerging, and early stage companies will have five minutes to pitch their unique concepts, followed by a question and answer session. All finalists will benefit from business-building services including exposure to media and potential investors, pitch training, and professional business consulting.

Deadline for submissions was extended to June 22, 2015.

Pitchfest is part of OIWC’s The Workshop: Transforming the outdoor industry through fresh thinking and incomparable talent. Funded in part by: The REI Foundation's Mary Anderson Legacy Grant.