This Monday, Mountain Hardwear announced the departure of brand president John Walbrecht, who assumed the role of Mountain Hardwear president just a seven months ago in March 2006. Walbrecht, announced Mountain Hardwear parent company Columbia Sportswear, “resigned to pursue opportunities closer to his family.”
Apparently, the BYU grad was looking to get back to Utah, as on Tuesday it was announced that Walbrecht accepted the role of president of Black Diamond Equipment, effective October 3.
Walbrecht brings more than 30 years of senior management experience to BD. Prior to leading Mountain Hardwear, he served as president and CEO of Fenix Outdoor, where he worked for four-plus years; and Brandbase, where is worked for more than six years. Before that he held senior management positons at Spyder Active Sports (seven years), Dr. Martens AirWair (four years), Gloria Vanderbilt (one year) and Timbrland (about 1.5 years).
As for Mountain Hardwear’s leadership, Columbia Sportswear president Bryan Timm said he “will assume a more active role in day-to-day management working alongside the Mountain Hardwear leadership team” while a succession process to identify the brand’s next leader is carried out.
We’d paste the quotes from company executives, but it’s just the expected and usual stuff about “strategic vision,” how grateful everyone is to have worked with said person or brand and what an honor it was and is to work with said person or brand. You get the idea.
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