JIM STROESSER: After beginning his professional career with New Balance in Dallas, Texas, Stroesser joined LA Gear, a fashion athletic footwear company, as a sales rep in 1989 then was promoted to executive management as the company grew to over $900 million and became the number 3 branded shoe maker in the country behind only Reebok and Nike. Endorsers included Karl Malone, Hakeem Olajuwon, Joe Montana, Wayne Gretzky, Michael Jackson and Paula Abdul. In 1992, Stroesser partnered with Trefoil, LA Gear's new ownership group which was headed by Roy Disney, the Vice Chairman of the Walt Disney Company and Stanley Gold, by relocating to New York City to work directly with Foot Locker Inc., the largest retailer in the world for athletic shoes, a position he held for 2 years. At age 34, and after 5 promotions in 7 years, Stroesser became the youngest National Sales Director in the industry's history to lead a tier one athletic shoe company. The company's meteoric rise to becoming a major force in the industry in a relatively short period of time was a direct result of Stroesser's carefully designed sales campaigns and perception into what kinds of product would sell to teenage girls, who accounted for 40% of LA Gear's sales.
Nike: In 1996 he was recruited by Nike executives to become their General Merchandise Manager of Strategic Department Stores and rapidly became a key executive within Nike, whose sales grew from $4.7 billion to a 'rarified' $8.8 billion in a three-year period in a sliding economy.
Oakley: "Dedicated to purpose beyond reason." Though this is the message of a very lucrative ad campaign for the most successful and most copied sport-specific sunglass company in the world, it is also a near-perfect description of Jim Jannard, Oakley's founder and CEO, who lured Stroesser out of Nike in 1999, to help him reshape and transform everyday products like sunglasses and shoes into functional works of art. Stroesser promptly assembled a team together and quickly grew sales from $200 million to $450 million in two years, and drove Oakley's public stock offering from $5 to $25, by introducing and developing all aspects of the new categories of footwear, apparel, watches and prescription eyewear. This established the foundation for Oakley to become a "world brand" and set the stage for the eventual purchase by Luxottica in 2007 for $2.1 billion, which was 3-times sales.
Converse: They are more than just shoes, nostalgia, a fashion statement or an icon. The history of Converse shoes spans the history of 20th century America and the evolution of basketball. Converse shoes revolutionized the sport of basketball and witnessed the birth of rock and roll. Sixty percent of all Americans own or have owned at least one pair of Converse sneakers. And although it had loyal followers, Converse had lost its youth appeal. Saddled with debt, it filed for bankruptcy protection. In 2001, Stroesser and his partners Marsden Cason, William Simon, Perseus Acquisition/ Recapitalization Fund including George Soros, and Symphony Holdings Ltd (Yue Yen Industrials, Pou Chen), bought Converse out of bankruptcy for $98 million. On the first day of ownership Stroesser immediately terminated the entire sales force of 45 people, (a move that had never been done before in the history of the sport and fitness industry), and successfully assembled a team of industry professionals that inspired and drove the company to sales growth rates of 40% per year, while delivering net margins of 10%. In 2003, Nike Inc. purchased the Converse brand for $305 million, making it the number one merger and acquisition of the year while delivering a 2400% ROI to investors in just 29 months. With the foundation being established for growth, Nike has since turn the Converse brand into a $1 billion company.
Ouiksilver: After spending 18 months working with Robert McKnight, Chairman of the Board of Quiksilver, and Bernard Mariette, President of Quiksilver, the undisputed leaders of the Action Sports industry, in 2005 Stroesser agreed to become the company's first ever General Manager of Quiksilver and Roxy Footwear Worldwide, and led the company through record sales growth in footwear, surpassing the $50 million milestone.
Pony: In 2006, he served as CEO and President of Pony International, when his previous partners from Converse, Marsden Cason, William Simon and Symphony Holdings Ltd (Yue Yen Industrials, Pou Chen - the largest footwear manufacturer in the world) asked for support to purchase and resell the Pony brand from GBMI, who had virtually bankrupted the company. In what was scheduled to be a 3-year re-emerging plan, in less than one year Stroesser supervised an almost impossible turnaround that ended with Pony not only set-up for a profitable resale, but the company possessing a $35 million valuation. Once this was accomplished, he stepped down to pursue his life long dream of creating and building a women's only sport and fitness brand.