Brooks Sports , Inc. Scales Business and Culture for Future Success, release, note by Larry Eder

Brooks continues to build their lead in the performance running business. A very astute business leader once told me, that in order to be successful, you must have on eye on the present and another eye on the future. 

Brooks Sports, Inc. Scales Business and Culture

for Future Success

Company Realigns on Path to Build World’s Leading Running Brand

Bothell, Wash. – Jan. 28, 2013 – Brooks Sports, Inc. today announced it will realign its organization, creating global functions while managing its business divisions by geography. The changes come on the heels of a successful 2012 during which Brooks drove a 43-percent footwear revenue increase in the U.S and a 41-percent revenue increase on a local currency basis across its European markets.

“Our opportunity to build a great brand and a great business in the running space has never been clearer,” said Jim Weber, Brooks Sports, Inc. CEO. “To lead in performance running, we need to scale our business and culture for continued success. We believe these changes lay the foundation for us to focus on key areas of our business and empower us to exceed the expectations of our partners, employees and the industry, today and in the future.”

Effective Feb. 1, Brooks Sports, Inc. will officially change its structure to support four key global functions: Product, Marketing, Operations and Corporate. Outside of these functional groups there will be four business divisions, allowing the company to best meet the needs of its customers globally. These divisions include North America, EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa), International Business Development and Global eCommerce.

Brooks will also realign its executive leadership team to support this new structure and place focused energy around key areas of the business.

 Jim Weber, CEO, Brooks Sports, Inc.

·         Strategy & Culture:  As CEO, Weber will focus on the long-term strategy for Brooks Sports, Inc., which includes Brooks Running Company and Moving Comfort.  He will be charged with scaling the company’s corporate culture for future success. Weber, who reports directly to Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Chairman & CEO Warren Buffett, will lead the Brooks Corporate, Product and Marketing global functions as well as the Moving Comfort division. To round out the Corporate function under Weber, Brooks will add the role of Chief Financial Officer to the executive team. The CFO will provide global support to the business divisions, lead Corporate Development efforts and oversee the Legal and IT functions. 

David Bohan, President & COO, Brooks Sports, Inc. 

·         Global Sales & Operations:  Critical to successfully growing a global $1 billion business are sales and operations. Current Brooks COO David Bohan will take ownership of these two elements of the business as President & COO, Brooks Sports, Inc. In this new role, Bohan will oversee the global Operations function as well as the three regional business divisions and the Global eCommerce division. 

Dave Larson, SVP, Product & Marketing, Brooks Sports, Inc.

·         Brand & Product:  Brooks product and brand are intrinsically intertwined and will be organizationally moving forward. Current BrooksSVP of Marketing Dave Larson will take on an expanded role as BrooksSVP Product & Marketing. In this new role, Larson will lead both the global Product and Marketing functions, uniting industry-leading product creation with category-defining, Run Happy storytelling.

Dan Sheridan, General Manager, North America, Brooks Sports, Inc.

·         North America Division:  In 2014, Brooks will create a subsidiary in Canada allowing for greater alignment across North America. To lead this business, Dan Sheridan recently assumed the role of General Manager, North America. As head of the new North America division, Sheridan oversees national and Specialty Running sales for both the U.S. and Canada. As part of the corporate realignment, regional customer service, retail and events marketing, and retail merchandising will report directly to him.

For more information about Brooks Running Company performance running footwear, apparel and accessories, please visit www.brooksrunning.com. For more information about Moving Comfort, please visitwww.movingcomfort.com.

About Brooks

• Brooks Running Company designs and markets a line of performance footwear, apparel and accessories in more than 60 countries worldwide. A subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., Brooks was founded in 1914 and is headquartered in Bothell, Wash., near Seattle. The company’s mission is to inspire everyone to run and be active by creating innovative gear that keeps them running longer, farther and faster. Visit www.brooksrunning.com for more information, and follow frequent brand updates on Twitter (@brooksrunning) and Facebook (www.Facebook.com/brooksrunning).