Westlife Distribution Promotes Doug Sumi to President
LOS ANGELES, CA (November 15, 2016) – Westlife Distribution, owner of 686 Technical Apparel, is pleased to announce the promotion of Doug Sumi to President effective immediately. Sumi began 21 years ago at Westlife Distribution helping founder Michael Akira West build the 686 brand. Over his tenure Sumi has worked in nearly every capacity as 686 and Westlife have grown, most recently as CFO/COO.
“I couldn’t be more stoked to have Doug take the lead at Westlife,” said West, Westlife Distribution Founder and CEO. “Doug and I met in a statistics class at USC in 1991 and he has been an integral part of everything we’ve touched over the course of nearly two and a half decades in business.”
Sumi’s initial focus will be on long term planning and execution on a stable of new initiatives conceived by West as well as increased communication, efficiencies and workflows through new technology. He will be continue working toward driving forward projects to improve the sell through of the brand for all retail points.
“Having been here since the beginning and working in nearly every capacity of the business gives me a complete perspective of where the business has been,” explains Sumi. “We are creating a road ahead that is different than what we have seen in the past and it is this challenge that excites me.”
Doug continues, “We made the change because it makes sense. Creativity does not come out of managing projects, hitting deadlines, obtaining margin, etc. Creativity comes when it wants and it makes sense to create a structure that allows Mike (West) to be creative. I think of it as clearing away the clutter. That same clutter for Mike is what I excel at managing. I thrive in environments that need to be refocused and optimized. I expect us to be able to accelerate many of the projects and innovations that we have been working on and to bring many more new concepts to the table.”
“Doug and I complement each other. He’s practical and disciplined and I’m disruptive and intuitive,” furthers West. “Together with our tight executive team of Doug, Jono, Brent, Todd and myself, I’m excited what the future hold.” In addition to the promotion of Sumi, Westlife most recently promoted Brent Sandor to VP of Marketing and Todd Doyle to Director of Product. Sandor has been at the helm of marketing for Westlife for the past four years. Doyle’s brings a strong sourcing, development and production background as well as menswear experience to 686.
