Top Brand and Retail Leaders to Speak at SESO Webinar Monday

Our panel will discuss the impact of tariffs on businesses, what brands and retailers are currently seeing on the ground with consumers, predictions for the rest of 2025 and beyond, and advice for other brand and retail leaders on navigating this highly uncertain environment.
Published: July 11, 2025

Join us this Monday, July 14,  at 11 a.m. PT/2 p.m. ET for our “Surviving 2025: Brands and Retailers Share Their Strategies” webinar with a panel of top brand and retail speakers.

We’ve had hundreds of signups for the event, and there’s still time to register for free here.

We have an impressive group of speakers for the talk, including:

Josee Larocque, the CEO of Elevate Outdoor Collective, the parent company of K2, Ride, Volkl, Marker, Dalbello, Line Skis, BCA, Madshus, Atlas and Tubbs snowshoes. She joined Elevate as COO in 2023, after 20 years at Burton Snowboards in a variety of roles in North America, Europe, and Asia, including as SVP of Digital and Business Transformation, SVP of Operations, and Asia Distribution Director.

Bryce Phillips, the founder and CEO of evo, one of the premiere retailers in snow and outdoor. He started evo in 2001 in his garage in Seattle selling used ski and snowboard gear. It’s now a major player in ski, snowboard, and mountain bike retail, both online and with showcase retail locations in Seattle, Portland, Salt Lake, Denver, Tahoe City, Whistler, and Japan with Rhythm Japan. Evo also operates a travel and hospitality business and three evo hotels in Hakuba, Japan, Tahoe City, and Salt Lake City. Total evo revenue has surpassed $200 million.

Paul Naude, the CEO of Vissla, one of the leading, newer surf and wetsuit brands. Prior to starting Vissla, Paul led the Billabong brand in North America when the company was publicly traded and spent his early formative business years at Gotcha. He is a leader in supporting ocean-related environmental causes and serves as president of the Surf Industry Members Association and the SIMA Environmental Fund.

Matt Powell, a Senior Advisor at BCE Consulting. A student of retail and an analyst of the sports retail industry, Powell is the go-to source for all things related to athletic brands and retailers. He worked as a senior advisor at the NPD Group, wrote the Sneakernomics blog for Forbes magazine, and early in his career led merchandising and planning teams for large sporting goods chains.

During the talk, our panel will discuss the impact of tariffs on businesses, what brands and retailers are currently seeing on the ground with consumers, predictions for the rest of 2025 and beyond, and advice for other brand and retail leaders on navigating this highly uncertain environment.

In addition to our impressive panel of speakers, we have two impressive sponsors for the event who also know the active lifestyle industry well: Noto Group and ENDVR.

We are looking forward to the discussion and hope you will join us.

🔗 Register for the webinar here.

Strategy & Planning Series
Strategy & Planning Series
Strategy & Planning Series
Strategy & Planning Series