Dive Brief:
- Columbia Sportswear Company named Tom Gyles senior vice president of its global distribution network, the company announced last week.
- Gyles joins Columbia after working for PVH Corp., where he was the senior vice president of international logistics and distribution. He also spent more than eight years at Gap Inc., most recently as the regional general manager of eastern United States and Asia logistics, per his LinkedIn.
- This is the second SVP hire for Columbia recently. Also last week, it named Woody Blackford its senior vice president and chief product officer. Prior to his appointment, Blackford was chief product officer at Canada Goose, but he spent 14 years at Columbia before to that.
Dive Insight:
In his role at Columbia, Gyles will oversee North American and European wholesale, retail and e-commerce for company-owned distribution operations, per the release. He will also lead global third-party logistics network, strategy, and operations including third-party logistics partnerships in the Asia Pacific region.
Gyles succeeds Alonzo Plater, who held the role from 2017 to April 2023. Plater now is the vice president of global operations for StockX, according to LinkedIn.
Glyes is based in Ontario, Canada, and reports to Lisa Kulok, executive vice president and chief supply chain officer of Columbia.
He is responsible “for defining and delivering innovative models that serve future business strategy and uplevel consumer experience in a continuously changing supply chain landscape,” the release states.
Prior to his time with apparel companies PVH and Gap, Gyles worked at Indis Inc. as vice president and general manager, and spent time as director of Canadian distribution operations at Cinram International, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Portland, Oregon-based Columbia has undergone several leadership shuffles in recent months. Earlier in August, it named Tricia Shumavon president of the prAna brand, as part of its plan to reposition it for growth. Meanwhile, Sorel is under interim leadership after Mark Nenow stepped down in June for health reasons.
