I’m an industry veteran with nearly 40 years of surfing experience. I started working in specialty retail when I was 12 at a local sporting goods store, Olympia Sports, merching product long before it was fashionable. From there I moved on to Surfers Supplies (one of the nation’s oldest and most respected surf shops in Ocean City, NJ), where I had the pleasure of being mentored by the gracious and honorable George Gerlach. My commitment to the success and the importance of the specialty retail market was honed in a time when this avenue was the only road to success.
I was among the first group of people to try to implement a surf team at our high school through our association with the NSSA. While we didn’t achieve that goal, we did establish ourselves as among the very best high school surfing teams in the state!
After graduation I moved to St Augustine, FL to attend Flagler College. I eventually became President of the Surf Club, growing its membership to the largest and most lucrative we had seen up to that time. Over the course of a few years, we consistently placed in the top 2 college surfing teams in Florida, being invited to compete in the NSSA Nationals in Huntington Beach, CA.
Post grad, I briefly moved back up to NJ where I took up residence again at Surfers Supplies, while also dipping my feet into the repping pool. I worked a variety of B-grade lines establishing my repping skills, before being drawn to Southern California to pursue a career at the management level in the surf industry. Working several jobs (bike shop, Chart House, and International Surf Magazine), I eventually decided to start my own surfing publication, Wave Action Surf Magazine. From our humble beginnings in my apartment in HB, to our eventual home in San Clemente, Wave Action became a true voice for the younger generation to be featured. Wave Action changed the way the industry marketed to its core audience, forever placing the focus back on the kids and their potential.
After establishing our surf magazine, we added a snowboard magazine (Plow), a
bodyboard magazine (Pit… generally regarded as the best bodyboard magazine ever), and a wakeboard magazine (Launch, another game-changer). Several of my employees went on the big network jobs with the X Games and the Dew Tour. To say that we had some unique insight might be an understatement.
My California career came to a close when we learned we were expecting a 3rd child and realized that I could no longer afford to live in Southern California, so we moved back to NJ to be near family. Upon return, I started publishing again with North East Surf News, later becoming Surf News, adding a regional snowboard magazine called Platinum and a skateboard magazine called Resolve. I also added in the Atlantic City Pro-Am Surf Series which ran for 4 events.
Above is a brief overview of what has been a varied career in the Action Sports Market.
My goal as a rep has ALWAYS been about keeping the focus on the local store and their customers. It is paramount that you be successful with the brands that I represent and I take your profitability very seriously; I truly consider it an honor to help you be successful and will always do everything in my power to accomplish that goal.
