Long time industry sales executive Mark Simpson has left his job as vice president of sales at Quiksilver to become the central and Northern California sales rep for golf apparel brand G/Fore.
Simpson spent 21 years at Hurley before leaving in 2020 to join friends in starting IPD, where he remains a shareholder. He joined new Quiksilver licensee O5 Group about six months ago.
“I loved working at Quiksilver and I loved the team over there, including the O5 team, but this was too good of an opportunity to pass up,” he said. G/Fore, started by Mossimo Giannulli, is now owned by upscale apparel brand Peter Millar, and Simpson’s new territory is a large and well established region. An avid golfer, Simpson’s account base now includes prestigious clubs such as Pebble Beach, Spyglass, Pasatiempo, Olympic Club, Meadow Club, and Mayacama.
“I’m thankful for the surf industry and everything it has done for me and the friends I have made and worked with – it’s been an amazing ride,” he said. “But doing something new and different is exciting to me.”
It’s been a long time since Simpson was a rep – more than 20 years – and about as long since he has worked in the same region where he lives in Northern California.
“It’s been really nice to not have to get on a plane every week and to work in my backyard,” he said. “And it’s awesome to be a rep again. Being a sales manager is all about solving problems, and that’s pretty much what you do from sunup to sundown.”
Simpson has worked with a lot of sales reps over the years, and he said the Quiksilver rep force is the best he’s every managed. So much so that he told Quiksilver GM Ryan Mangan that the rep force could almost run itself.
We reached out to Mangan, but he declined to comment if he would be filling Simpson’s role. Mangan and Simpson worked together for years at Hurley, and remain close.
“Simpson is the best,” Mangan told SESO.
Simpson said he is thankful for his decades in the surf industry on both a personal and professional level.
“I am grateful for all the brands I’ve worked with and the entire surf industry in general,” he said. “I’m honored to have been a very small part of some exciting times over the past 25 years.”
