Rocket Dog Brands, LLC appointed Derek Bowen as managing director, Europe where he will be based out of the RDBI Ltd office in Elstree. He was most recently from Wolverine Worldwide where he acted as the Northern Europe sales director, Heritage Brands Group.
Bowen brings over 20 years of footwear sales, product, marketing, and strategic management experience to RDBI. In his position at RDBI he will assist with the overall global business and brand strategy and planning, and lead RDBI's sales and marketing efforts in the UK and Europe. He will further leverage the brand's international strength in both existing countries of distribution and countries targeted for growth. His role will extend into working with the Rocket Dog Brands, LLC senior team to ensure global growth and profitability, as well as ensuring the product needs of the European consumers and markets are met.
At Wolverine, he was responsible for leading the sales and marketing strategies of the Heritage division for the UK, Ireland and Benelux. Prior to that Bowen was senior global product director for Timberland where he developed international product direction and strategies for Europe, Asia, Canada and South America.
With his extensive experience in a number of executive roles for leading brands, Bowen brings a wealth of knowledge in not only sales and marketing, but also product and distribution where he was a key player in growing brands across many channels of distribution and countries.
“Derek brings a unique combination of skills that will continue to enhance and strengthen the Rocket Dog team internationally,” said Cathy Taylor, Rocket Dog CEO. “As we continue to leverage the brand in new countries and further penetrate the global market we are excited to have Derek's development skills in both brand and product strategies to help us take advantage of our many opportunities for growth across Europe.”
Bowen will officially join Rocket Dog Brands International on November 28, 2011 and report to Taylor.
