Gander Mountain appoints president & COO

Gander Mountain has promoted Mike Owens to the position of president and COO. Owens was the company’s EVP and COO since joining in 2009.



“This is an exciting time for Gander Mountain, and we are very optimistic about our future,” said chairman of the board and CEO David Pratt, who has overseen a sizeable expansion in the past 18 months. “In Mike we have a true leader in driving further growth and success for Gander Mountain across our network of stores. I offer my personal congratulations to Mike on a well-deserved promotion.”



Prior to joining Gander Mountain, Owens spent 27 years in roles of increasing responsibility at Anheuser-Busch. After leading the merchant, marketing, distribution and store operations group, he will take on responsibilities for finance and information systems.



Reporting to Owens will be CFO Bob Vold, EVP and chief merchant Kerry Graskewicz, EVP of marketing Steve Uline, SVP of operations, retail and e-commerce Derek Siddons and director of Gander Mountain Academy Chris Juelich.



Eric Jacobsen, EVP, general counsel and director of real estate site selection, and Lisa Schmidt, SVP of facilities development, store design and visual merchandising, will continue reporting to Pratt.



Gander Mountain is in the midst of a sizeable expansion, with stores opening in Valdosta, Ga., Morrisville, N.C., Lafayette, Ind., Opelika, Ala., Florence, Ala., Winston-Salem, N.C., Gastonia, N.C., Monroe, N.C., Rogers, Minn., Tuscaloosa, Ala., Charlottesville, Va., Lewisville, Texas, Mesquite, Texas, Round Rock, Texas and San Antonio, Texas throughout the past 18 months. Additional new stores will open in Dothan, Ala., Albany, Ga. and Tampa, Fla. in the coming weeks, with more new store announcements expected soon.