Reid Pinder will be managing director of Electric’s overseas business, which was cited as a key growth area for the company in an announcement earlier this year.
Electric is part of Paris-based PPR SA, which acquired Electric’s former parent, Costa Mesa-based Volcom Inc., in 2011. The company makes sunglasses, goggles and other accessories.
Pinder was previously brand manager for Billabong’s European business, overseeing the Australia-based company’s namesake brand. He also served as general manager of its Network Surf division, which is dedicated to wet suits, surfboards and other technical gear.
Electric announced earlier this year a new brand logo and new office in France, along with new product categories, such as watches due out this year.
Pinder arrives at Electric as Billabong considers a sale.
Billabong last week requested a halt in trading of its shares on the Australian Stock Exchange “pending the release of an announcement by the company.” Billabong confirmed following the trading halt that both bids are still active.
That comes as a reported March 28 deadline looms for two groups that have put in conditional bids of $550.8 million for Billabong. Both bidders have been conducting due diligence in recent weeks.
One of the groups is led by Billabong Americas President Paul Naude and New York-based private equity firm Sycamore Partners.
The other consists of Palo Alto private equity firm Altamont Capital Partners and Greensboro, N.C.-based VF Corp., parent of Cypress-based skate company Vans Inc. Scott Olivet, a former chief executive at Foothill Ranch-based Oakley Inc., is rumored to be part of the Altamont/VF proposal.
Separately, apparel trade show producer Agenda LLC of Los Angeles hired Mike Carter, a cofounder of Electric Visual, as vice president of sales and marketing.
Carter left Electric in 2008 and went on to serve as vice president of global marketing for Park City, Utah-based Skullcandy Inc., which has a marketing office in San Clemente. He returned to Electric in 2011 to serve as vice president of global marketing.
Agenda is one of the largest trade shows on the West Coast and counts many locally based action-sports and street-inspired apparel and accessories companies among its exhibitors base.
The most recent Agenda show, in January at the Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center, drew about 12,000 attendees and about 600 brands.
Agenda, part of U.K.-based Reed Elsevier Group PLC, debuts in Las Vegas this year, adding the stop to the biannual shows it produces in Long Beach and New York.
―Kari Hamanaka
