Icebreaker promotes its top woman in the US
17/06/2010
Ms Thompson moved to the company's US headquarters in Portland, Oregon, in January from New Zealand. Three weeks into her new job, Icebreaker's former US president, Russ Hopcus, announced he was leaving.
The company is experiencing high levels of growth in the US. It opened its first outlet store in North America in Woodburn, Oregon, on May 28. It plans to open its first store in New York City this autumn as part of an expansion that will lead to 50 new Icebreaker stores around the world in the next five years.
In announcing that Ms Thompson would take up the role of leading all US operations, the company's general manager for global markets, Tony Balfour, said: “Lisa knows Icebreaker better than almost anyone, and she’s one of the reasons the company has been so successful this past decade. We are excited to see where she takes the US market.”
For her part, Lisa Thompson said: “I’m super excited about the opportunities here; the potential is endless. We have a number of brilliant and fun partnerships taking shape in the outdoor specialty business and I know we can surprise them with great results. The upcoming launch of our GT Run and Bike collections to retailers this month will further enhance our reach in 2011 with sports enthusiasts looking for fantastic, natural performance apparel.”
Replacing her as US sales manager is Justin Watkins, who has been with Icebreaker since 2004. The company has also named Molly King as its US marketing manager, replacing Deb Boswell, who is moving to the new role of general manager of Icebreaker's Run collection, the company's first entry into the general sports category.
Share this story:
