MEET THE BOARD
Executive Director
Parker Karnan
Karnan Associates, LLC
Woodinville, WA
Parker founded and manages Karnan Associates, a consultancy that works closely with executives and owners of businesses to help them achieve their business vision and goals. Karnan Associates recently launched a Retail Dashboard program which displays key metrics and allows retailers to know their overall business health at a glance. Parker has spent most of his career in the sports industry, where he spent a number of years with Brooks Sports, Inc. While at Brooks Parker was Vice President of Sales and led US sales efforts for 4 divisions of the company. He also directed the apparel brand’s reposition from parity to premium over a 3 year period, increasing the annual margin by 1300 basis points and establishing the business as a profitable unit of the company. Parker received his undergraduate degree from Dartmouth College in English and holds a graduate degree from the University of San Francisco in Sports Management. While at Dartmouth he met his wife, Miquette. They have been married for 13 years and live with their 3 kids outside Seattle, WA.
Regional Directors -- Effective February 10, 2009
North East: NY, NJ, ME, NH, VT, MA, PA, RI, & CT.
Ed Griffin
Fleet Feet Syracuse
Syracuse, NY
Along with wife Ellen, I founded Fleet Feet Syracuse in 2000. Named Fleet Feet Sports Rookie of the Year in 2001, the store has since been awarded the Fleet Feet Sports Store of the Year in 2003 and 2006 and named one of the 50 Best Running Stores in America in 2007 and 2006 by the Running Network.
Among the Top 5 stores in revenue among the 80 Store Fleet Feet franchise, we have created marketing, operations and employee development programs that have been adopted as best practices.
Growing at a rate that exceeds 20% annually, Fleet Feet Syracuse is preparing for the purchase and move to a 10,000 Square foot facility, that will insure continued growth and a place among the largest and best running stores in the country.
BS in Marketing from Rochester Institute of Technology, I have extensive experience in the Telecommunication Industry in Sales and Management of two fast growing businesses over a 16 year career before opening Fleet Feet Syracuse, Inc.
Mid-Atlantic: DE, DC, MD & VA
Cathy Pugsley
Potomac River Running
Potomac Falls, VA
Cathy Pugsley founded Potomac River Running in 2002 with her husband, sister, and brother-in-law. The business opened two retail locations in Northern Virginia in 2003 and quickly built a customer base in the crowded Washington, DC-area specialty market. PRR added a third location in 2006. The young business has already been honored the past two years in The Running Network’s 50 Best Stores in America, and was a finalist for store of the year in 2006. Cathy spent much of the first two years of business on the retail floor, handling all aspects of the business. As the company has matured, she now spends more of her time behind the scenes, coordinating human resources, marketing, advertising, communications, and financial/accounting tasks.
Prior to opening her own business, Cathy spent 10 years in strategic business consulting with Price Waterhouse/PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC was bought by IBM shortly before Cathy’s departure.) During her consulting career, Cathy built on her Master’s in Public Policy (concentrating on economics and analytics), conducting a wide range of studies for clients in the public, private, and non-profit sectors. Focusing on the successful introduction of new products and services and the necessary analytics behind such decision-making, Cathy became the leader of the firm’s Strategic Product Development practice. She and her teams helped organizations identify and develop new products, services, and programs to best meet both strategic goals and customer needs, working on projects ranging from developing go-to-market strategies and market positioning to negotiating alliances and strategic relationships to developing detailed business plans for new opportunities and initiatives. (These skills came in handy when building her own business….)
Cathy graduated summa cum laude and was Phi Beta Kappa at the College of William and Mary, where she completed both her undergraduate and graduate work. She was a four-year varsity athlete, captain of the Cross Country and Track Teams, an NCAA qualifier, and earned Academic All-America honors. Post-collegiately, Cathy competed from 1994-1998 with the Reebok Enclave (where she met husband, Ray). She continues to race occasionally on the roads and has dabbled in the marathon. Cathy looks forward to turning 40 and perhaps getting fit enough to have a few more competitive running years. Though not racing that much herself at the moment, Cathy shares her passion for the sport by coaching adults. She is involved in paid coaching programs as well as in a volunteer capacity for the Ashburn Area Running Club, an RRCA club she helped found.
Southwest: TX, OK, MO, UT, AZ, NM, AZ & KS.
Garry Gribble's
Garry Gribble Running Sports
Kansas City, MO
Gribble is originally from Pennsylvania. and initially worked for Hallmark Cards which brought him from Baltimore to Atlanta, then to Kansas City. “My business background gave me exposure to marketing, training, and recruiting on a regional and national level which has helped me tremendously in owning and operating my four running stores,” Gribble said.
He was a high school and college wrestler and running became important to him in his 30's. He has been a running retailer since 1984, now operates four stores, and May of this year marks his 25th anniversary in the retail business.
Garry and his wife Sandy, who is a psychologist have two grown kids that live in Santa Fe and St. Louis and an 8th grader that loves all sports. Gribble has run 106 marathons, one in every state and has done many triathlons, including the Ironman in Hawaii. In 2007, Garry was inducted into The Running Specialty Hall of Fame.
“I'm proud of the many great people that have worked in my stores and I want to continue to serve the running community with running knowledge and information.”
Southeast: FL, GA, NC, SC, KY, AL, LA, VA, WV, TN & MS.
Renee Grant
Runners Depot
Davie, FL
Runner’s Depot has been open since, 2000 and now has three stores and one franchise.
Runner’s Depot has grown 20-30% each year since its inception. This past year, Runner’s Depot expanded its original location and gave it a complete facelift. This past year, the store reported record sales despite the flailing economy. The company’s mission emphasizes ‘growing’ the sport of running in South Florida. To these efforts, Runner’s Depot began an RRCA-based running club, the Gold Coast Runners, which now has 485 members, a marathon and half-marathon training program with over 100 members, a triathlon training team and triathlon club, and a women’s only run/walk program.
Grant’s experience includes two years as an IRRA Board Member at Large; Owner/President of New Moves, Inc., a dance a fitness specialty retail store for six years; owner of Grant Printing, Inc., an offset printing business for18 years, and four years as Commercial Loan Officer at Barnett Bank/Nations Bank, Miami.
West: CA, CO, NV, HI, WA, OR, MT, ID, AK, UT & WY.
J. D. Denton
Fleet Feet Davis
Davis, CA
J.D. came of age during the 50s and 60s on the plains of West Texas, but has spent all the years since then living elsewhere. He earned a B.A. in Communications from Wichita State University in Kansas in 1973, then lived in North Carolina for a number of years before moving to California in 1993 with wife Chris. A professional retailer since 1975, J.D. has managed jeans stores, general sporting goods stores, and since taking over Fleet Feet Davis in 1993. During those rare times when he’s not working at Fleet Feet, J.D. burns out heart rate monitor batteries on his elliptical trainer or sprawls out on his couch to root for the Denver Broncos. He’s also active in the Davis Chamber of Commerce, the Davis Rotary Club, and the Davis Downtown Business Association. As a senior writer for Running Times, he writes “Shoe Guy,” a monthly column on the adventures of runners and their shoes. In 2008, J.D. was elected to the Specialty Running Hall of Fame by the members of the Independent Running Retailers Association
Midwest: IL, IN, OH, MN, MI, WI, SD, ND, NE & IA.
Mark Rouse
Runner's High N Tri
Arlington Heights, IL
Rouse is the operating partner of Runner's High 'n Tri Arlington Heights, Illinois. He opened the business 18 years ago. Rouse was born and raised in Detroit, graduate of Pioneer High School in Ann Arbor and then received his criminal justice degree from Ferris State University. Rouse ran his first marathon in 1978 and participated in his, first triathlon in 1981. Rouse continues to participate. He is married with one daughter.
At Large Directors
Rich Wills
FitNiche
Lakeland, FL
Rich Wills is a life-long runner and triathlete who opened his store, FITniche, three years ago in Lakeland, FL. The store is specialty running store at its core but exists to service the general mainstream fitness market as well. In three years, FITniche has grown from a bootstrap start-up to a store recognized as one the 50 Best Running Stores in America at the 2008 Running Event. Rich's mission for the store is to help people get fit, be healthy and have fun doing it.
Helping and working with the people who come through the store, including employees, is Rich's natural and first passion. The behind- the-scenes mechanics of the business and the influences of the larger market and other running retail channels have become increasingly important focuses of Rich. Rich believes that understanding the larger market forces at work is ultimately going to be very important to the continued ability of the run specialty market to thrive. Rich has been married to Jill Wills for 13 years. Their three children, Emily, Alexander, and Erikson are 9,6 and 4.
John Clark
Skinny Raven Sports
Anchorage, AK
Clark has lived in Anchorage, AK since 1968 worked at Skinny Raven since 1996.
He coached high school cross country running, skiing, track for 20 before retiring in 2007. Clark coached Chris Clark Olympic Trials champ in 2000. Clark continues to run and compete and has run 20+ marathons from Alaska to London.
Clark currently manage the running side of business and other logistics at Skinny Raven which is a multi-dimensional business that has running area of about 2500 sq. ft, casual footwear area of equal size and a smaller women’s boutique across the street that also houses its warehouse/receiving area. Says Clark of Skinny Raven’s: “Because of our location and general environment we have very unique challenges and needs we deal with.”
irra MANAGEMENT
Mark Sullivan
Great Neck, NY
As a business journalist, Mark Sullivan has covered specialty running stores for more than 20 years. He has been a writer and editor for SportStyle, Footwear News and Sporting Goods Business. In 2005 along with three partners, he founded Formula 4 Media, LLC, which publishes the Running Insight newsletter and owns The Running Event expo and conference. Mark has a journalism degree from Syracuse University and lives in New Jersey with his wife Gwen and two children, Devlin, 7 and Claire, 4.
Jeff Nott
Great Neck, NY
