Mike Wallenfels Very Condensed Career History

Transcript

Doug:  Do you work in the Outdoor  Industry?

Mike: Yes, I’m in the Outdoor Industry. My name is Mike Wallenfels, one of the original founders of Mountain Hardwear, and I was the president of the company as Columbia took over. Now I’m the CEO of Timbuktu Designs in San Fransisco.

And I have lunch with Al on occasions. He tries to hit me up, but I’ve been really bad at having lunch because I’ve been way too busy and I’m still travelling. So my plans of taking it easy aren’t quite happening.

Doug: And how did you get involved with Mountain Hardwear? Were you at Sierra Designs?

Mike: I was a Sierra Designs person.  I worked with Paul Kramer and Jack Gilbert at Sierra Designs, with Martin and Al at Sierra Designs. I was among the crew that walked out. I was there for one year and suddenly it was declared, “Well, the company is going bankrupt; we’ve got to change what we’re doing.”

My wife and I had moved up from San Diego. I’d been working in a Adventure 16 before, a retailer down in San Diego, and moved up to work at Sierra Designs. Then I left the crew to go to Mountain Hardwear, and I was there for 17 years.