Brent Futagaki, a 17-year veteran of Active Ride Shop who most recently served as Vice President of Marketing, has exited the company.
I spoke with Brent, who told me that the parting with Active was amicable and that he is working on a new venture that should be launching soon. He couldn’t go into too many details yet before the official launch but we expect to hear more details in a few weeks.
I also touched base with Active President Jenner Heller who shared some information about the changes at Active, which operates 30 stores and is an important industry customer.
“Brent has been a major contributor at Active for 17 years and has made a positive impact on the people and overall success of the company,” Jenner said. “Active is not immune to the challenges facing retail and we have had to streamline our organization while reprioritizing our goals to meet the demand of the environment and better service our customers with an omni-channel objective.
“Brent is a talented and innovative individual who is highly respected within the industry and his passion for board sports will undoubtedly have our paths crossing in the future. I have worked closely with Brent for well over a decade and his ability to connect and put others before himself is something I will always value.”
I asked Jenner how the marketing operation will be structured now.
“Tim Katz is our Chief Marketing Officer overseeing both marketing and e-commerce,” Jenner said. “Together we have worked closely to arrange his teams efficiently so we can best service our customers with an omni-channel vision combining both digital and retail store messaging in support of our merchandise and brand objectives.
“Nick Jacobs will be transitioning from the real estate and operations side into the marketing department as Sr. Marketing Director,” Jenner said.
Active has recently expanded outside of Southern California to Bakersfield, Fresno and Tempe, Arizona.
