Shoes For Crews LLC, maker of slip-resistant work footwear, announced that Jim O’Connor is joining the company as vice president and general manager of its Industrial business. O’Connor comes to Shoes For Crews after 14 years at Timberland in a variety of leadership positions, the most recent being general manager and vice president of the Timberland Pro Series industrial boot business.
“We are thrilled to welcome Jim to the SFC family,” said CEO Stuart Jenkins. “He’s a proven footwear veteran who grew the Pro business at Timberland significantly, introduced the business-to-business model there and opened new markets for the brand. We’ll put that experience to work as we build our ACE industrial brand into the global leader in slip-resistant safety footwear, and protect men and women working in tough and dangerous jobs.”
Shoes For Crews manufactures and sells the ACE brand to corporate customers and end-users globally. The SFC products are undergoing a complete overhaul under the direction of the new design team and will be relaunched in 2017. SFC recently acquired SureGrip which will allow SFC to offer additional brands to its food service, hospitality, healthcare and industrial customers, including New Balance, Keuka, Dockers, Merrell, Johnston & Murphy, Lila and more.
Shoes For Crews began producing slip-resistant footwear in 1984. Culinary footwear brand MOZO and work boot brand ACE are also part of the Shoes For Crews family of brands. The recent acquisition of SureGrip will soon allow SFC to offer brands including New Balance, Keuka, Dockers, Merrell, Johnston & Murphy, Lila and more. Jenkins, a footwear industry veteran with 38 years of experience, joined the company in February, 2016 and has since brought in a seasoned design and development team based in Portland, OR.
