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  New Quiksilver Inc. President Greg Healy

Quiksilver has restructured its Americas sales force in the wake of the departure of former CEO Andy Mooney last week.

Two of Mooney’s handpicked top sales executives, Alan Vickers, Global Head of Wholesale Sales and Americas GM, and John Graham, SVP of Americas Sales, have left the company.

Quiksilver is also moving away from having sales managers sell across brands in the specialty channel, instead opting for sales leaders for specific brands.

Jaci Schroeder, who previously led East Coast sales for Quiksilver and Roxy in the specialty channel, is now the Roxy National Sales Manager.

Mike Reilly, who held the same job for the West Coast, is now the Quiksilver National Sales Manager.

They will report to Taylor Whisenand, who remains the sales lead for the specialty market.

For now, Taylor also is absorbing some of the duties previously handled by Deanna Jackson, who also recently left the company. Taylor will work on key accounts sales with Kiki Prince, who will continue being the footwear sales leader companywide while Taylor will focus on apparel sales for key accounts.

President Greg Healy to head up the Americas

For now, Taylor and Kiki are reporting to new company President Greg Healy, who will work in the Americas region going forward. He previously led the Asia Pacific region and has worked at the company since 1998.

The Asia Pacific region, which was the region with the least amount of structural changes during the past few years, has been the region that has been performing the best recently.

Healy, a surfer who started at Quiksilver as a financial executive, told SES via email:

“The changes we are making in our North America wholesale sales organization better align our team to our wholesale partners ensuring execution to our plan,” he said.

“Kiki and Taylor will take up interim roles to lead the wholesale sales force, until we finalize our restructuring. They are doing a tremendous job already and will continue to do so.

“We thank Alan and John for the contributions to Quiksilver,” Greg said.

Meeting retailers a key focus

Healy said that one of his first priorities in his new job will be to get into stores to meet with owners and start to build relationships.

“I’m really excited to take on the challenge (of the new job),” he said. “One of my first priorities, upon relocation in May, will be to get out to see our wholesale partners, visit the shop floors, and take on board any feedback.”

See Page 2 for more of our story about the restructuring, including what one key retailer thinks of the recent changes

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Competitors pounce

During Mooney’s tenure, he did not spend much time building relationships with core retailers and instead focused on other areas of the business that needed attention.

With the disconnection at the top of Quiksilver with the core market and some controversial structural decisions that were made, competitors sensed a golden opportunity to take share from a dominant player and pounced during Mooney’s tenure.

They aggressively sold against Quiksilver and its strategies during that time.

While uncertain of Mooney and his plans, core retailers told me repeatedly during the years that they thought the world of Jaci, Mike and Taylor, and knew that they understood the core market and what retailers needed, but were not always listened to internally.

In the face of some major challenges, that team did manage to land some big wins, including a new 1,400 square foot Quiksilver/Roxy store with Sun Diego, new buildouts with HIC in Hawaii and getting Quiksilver back into Hobie.

At the end of Mooney’s tenure, they had also convinced top executives that opening an outlet in San Clemente and discounting heavily on company e-commerce sites were not good ideas. Mooney was also starting to spend time with core retailers, but it appears that happened two years too late.

Greg Healy, new CEO Pierre Agnes and Chairman Bob McKnight understand why it’s important to be strong at the core market, and that their past strength in that channel does not guarantee a place in the future unless they nurture and pay special attention to those retailers.

The industry is very competitive, especially in the U.S. core market. If a brand turns its back for a minute, there will be a stampede of competitors gunning for their shelf space, from more established brands with a lot of resources and experience, to young, nimble and hungry brands looking to make their mark, all eager to chip away at a former leader’s market share.

And the stronger a brand is in the specialty channel, the more desirable it is to larger, volume retailers who pay more attention than people realize to what is happening at key core accounts.

Retailers embrace changes

George Karamitos, owner of Maui Nix, an important core account based in Florida with nine stores, said he believes the recent management changes are a positive development.

“The stock market might not have liked it, but from a wholesale account perspective, I feel good about it,” he said.

George said he’s happy to have people who understand the culture back in a leadership position. Granted, some of those people made mistakes in the past. But, George noted, he also made mistakes during the pre-recession years that he now regrets.

“What do you do? You learn from them and you move on,” he said. “I am guessing they have done the same.”

He’s worked closely with Jaci Schroder during the last few years, and she has done a great job keeping him updated about the changes at the company, whether good or bad. She has also looked out for his interests.

“She’s done a great job. They keep putting more on her plate, and she’s really stepped up,” George said.

Pierre Agnes, the former company President who is now CEO, also recently came to Daytona Beach to meet with George and see the Maui Nix store there.

“I was encouraged by his thoughts,” George said.

George can already sense the positive difference in morale at Quiksilver, and now just hopes there are no other major changes on the horizon.

“It would be nice to stick to one way of doing business for awhile, and give it a chance to work. They’ve had a big brain drain the last two years, and a lot of good people have left. It would be nice for that to stop, too.”

Not back to business as usual

I have been told that during meetings with staff, Bob McKnight has emphasized that previous management returning to the leadership helm does not mean Quiksilver is going back to doing business the same way it used to.

Instead, the goal is to marry the best parts of the organizational changes made under Mooney with some of the proven ways of doing business and maintaining a company culture that worked so well in the past.