Salewa North America, which operates the Dynafit, Salewa, Wild Country and Pomoca brands in the U.S. and Canada, has announced promotions within its North American leadership team—Drew Saunders has been named country manager, while Ross Herr was named sales and marketing manager

Drew Saunders

Based at the company’s North American headquarters in Boulder, CO, Saunders will take the leadership role for the North American team and report to Chief Sales Officer Claes Broqvist, based in Bolzano Italy.

The company stated in a global announcement that Saunders will be responsible for the growth and profitability of the North American business and for developing the brands with the right product and marketing mix suitable for the local market. Reporting to Drew will be Herr (sales and marketing manager), Cassandra Longino (accounting manager), Danny Ciavarro (customer service manager) and Evan Horenovsky (operations analyst).

Saunders has been a key contributor for Salewa North America for 10 years and has played an instrumental role in building the brands, team and business to where they are today. He has more than 20 years of experience in operations, product management, and leadership positions in the outdoor industry. He most recently served as director of operations for Salewa North America and prior to that was a product manager for Kelty. Saunders is a passionate backcountry skier, biker and world traveler and enjoys getting outside with his wife and two boys.

“I am very excited to lead the team and the business that we have built over the past decade into the next chapter,” Saunders said. “We have an amazing team in the U.S. and Canada and tremendous support internationally. Our brands have a lot of momentum right now, and we are well positioned to continue to develop them into market leaders in each of their respective categories.”

Herr, the new sales and marketing manager, first joined the company four years ago as the Dynafit sales manager. He quickly excelled in his role and became sales manager for all brands. In his new position, Ross will be responsible to lead the sales and Marketing team, manage relationships with dealers and marketing partners, and execute the international brand marketing concepts in North America. Based in Frisco, CO, Herr is a competitive runner, mountain biker and ski mountaineer.

The Salewa North America business consists of four brands:

  • Salewa, a leading international mountain brand and the industry’s fasting growing brand in technical hiking
  • Dynafit, the world’s only full-time, full-line backcountry ski and endurance brand
  • Wild Country, a core brand for rock climbers, and
  • Pomoca, producers of innovative and reliable Swiss climbing skins.