La Jolla Group Names New CEO
La Jolla Group Announces Leadership Evolution
Daniel Neukomm – SES file photo
January 24, 2022 – La Jolla Group, Inc. (LJG) today announced an evolution in leadership. Having served as CEO since May 2013, Daniel Neukomm will now assume the role of Executive Chairman, effective immediately. Michael Pratt, Chief Financial Officer and SVP Strategy, has been promoted to Chief Executive Officer, reporting to Daniel.
“Michael has been a key component of our leadership team over the last four years, navigating the global pandemic, solidifying LJG’s strategic direction, and delivering record financial performance” Daniel said. “I look forward to partnering with Michael in La Jolla Group’s next chapter as we drive profitability and sustainable growth across our family of brands, while also making significant investments to expand our “platform as a service” offering to accelerate growth for our consumer businesses. Originally assuming responsibility for LJG when it was struggling, I am proud to pass my CEO responsibilities to Michael and the team who helped me turn things around.”
Michael will oversee all aspects of the business. “I am excited for the opportunity to lead a talented group of individuals in the next phase of our growth and want to thank Daniel and the Board of Directors for the trust placed in me to manage through the challenging environment that lies ahead,” Michael said. Prior to La Jolla Group, Michael spent ten years in various strategy and finance roles at NIKE and No Fear. He began his career on Wall Street after business school, and advised consumer clients on mergers, acquisitions and capital raising.
In his new role, Michael will continue to partner with Josh Wellington, COO, to drive profitable growth across La Jolla’s family of brands and businesses. “La Jolla Group is a family-owned business and I am excited about the partnership between Michael and Josh as they lead the next stage of growth, allowing me to focus my efforts across a wider variety of activities,” said Daniel.
To support the leadership transition, Allen Zakharin has been promoted to Vice President, Finance and will oversee all financial aspects of the business. Allen has been instrumental in driving financial performance for La Jolla Group and has implemented an enterprise performance management application, ensuring the prioritization of accurate forecasting and cross-functional alignment capabilities. Previously Allen led Financial Planning & Analysis at Mophie and held leadership roles at Oakley, including corporate FP&A, wholesale finance and demand planning.
In addition, Mike Jones has been promoted to Vice President, Planning & Analytics. Mike has built a “best-in-class” planning and analytics organization at La Jolla Group to support multiple brands across both direct-to-consumer and wholesale channels during the challenges posed by the global pandemic. Previously, Mike was Director of Global Brand Operations for the SWIMS brand at Centric Brands and spent six years at Deckers Brands as head of planning for the Sanuk and UGG brands. Mike began his career in planning at the Disneyland Resort. In their new roles, Allen and Mike will continue to report to Michael Pratt.
In addition to the evolution of leadership, LJG is proud to announce significant investments in people, processes, and systems to strengthen its already powerful back-end platform that forms the foundation of its growing business. In the back half of 2021, LJG hired Kelvin Toulmin as Vice President of Operations to support Josh Wellington in driving operational excellence throughout the organization. Kelvin brings 30 years in progressive supply chain operations roles both domestically and globally, having supported both high growth private business and billion-dollar public brands. Most recently Kelvin drove transformational strategies at Stussy and TOMS.
To support Kelvin in his new role and to ensure continued delivery of quality products to consumers, LJG added a Director of Production & Sourcing and a Director of Quality Assurance, bringing a combined 60+ years of experience to La Jolla Group. LJG also committed to material investments in systems to further strengthen the product development process at all stages.
“These investments will allow us to continue to deliver exceptional quality and value to consumers and our retail partners,” said Chief Operating Officer Josh Wellington.
About La Jolla Group
Having held the license for the O’Neill brand since 1993, La Jolla Group is a multi-brand operator of growth consumer businesses. In addition to O’Neill, La Jolla Group designs and distributes the Voyager brand globally and Hang Ten apparel in the United States under license. With years of experience delivering consumer products, La Jolla Group also invests in and provides shared services to growth consumer businesses, including PSD Underwear and Spiritual Gangster.
