Quiksilver has hired Florida sales veteran Rick Zappone as the Quiksilver brand sales representative for Northern Florida, Georgia and Alabama.
Before a brief stop recently at Olukai, Rick spent 28 years with Reef and is highly regarded by Florida retailers. He has also mentored generations of sales reps in the region over the years.
I spoke with Taylor Whisenand, Quiksilver SVP Territory Sales, to find out about the move and why the brand is making key hires and new shifts in the core sales channel.
Zappone recently worked at Olukai where he managed East Coast sales and a team of 18 reps. A former competitive surfer with his BA in business from Flagler College in Florida, Zappone also built an agency that sold Reef apparel and footwear, worked at Rusty Clothing for a decade, and at Hurley for three years.
“We are excited for Rick to join the Quiksilver team,” Taylor said. “Aside from being a great person, a hardcore surfer, and a family man, Rick adds a fresh perspective to Quiksilver. He has decades of market experience, a strong work ethic and is highly regarded by our customers and retailers.”
The addition of Zappone to North Florida was the result of Quiksilver’s efforts to best align their service model for the specialty channel in the Southeast region, Taylor said.
“We realized during the turnaround that being the best surf brand in the market means better servicing the core specialty channel. That means having the most credible, core guys in the right areas,” he said.
Quiksilver also assigned veteran Quiksilver brand representative Chris Payne to his native Southern Florida region, in addition to the Caribbean region, while allowing Zappone to cover his hometown area of northern Florida, along with Georgia and Alabama.
