Meet the ISLE team
The people behind the brand
Before LinkedIn, there was no way to tell where someone worked. It was seldom that you would see brands post about their employees, unless you found yourself in an awkward corner of your local grocery store where a few framed employees of the month photos hung crooked on the wall. At ISLE Surf & SUP, we want to celebrate the individuals who work at our company.
ISLE Surf & SUP is a 15-year-old eCommerce paddle board company from sunny San Diego, CA. We are a small team of 20 individuals who all share the same passion for the outdoors and the ocean. We sell the lifestyle we live when we’re not in the office. Our goal when we come to work every day is to keep you inspired to get outside and enjoy the bodies of water the surround our beautiful planet.
The ISLE Founders
ISLE was founded by two best friends, Doug Pate & Marc Miller who share a love for the ocean and the sports that surround it. In their first four years of business they sold surfboards online. At the time, there was no direct to consumer surfboard company, and by default, they became the pioneers. In 2008, they shifted their focus from surfboards to stand up paddle boards due to the ability to serve more people. Fast forward 15 years later and now ISLE’s main focus is paddle boards. Today, both Doug and Marc are still actively in the business and don’t miss a day of work.
Customer Support
We strive to offer the best customer experience for our customers. We couldn’t accomplish this without our in-house customer service team. Over the years, we have invested in patient, communicative and knowledgeable individuals who love paddle boarding just as much as our customers do.
Keven Tugend was born & raised in San Diego and has been paddling for longer than she can remember. Jay is constantly out paddling, but a surfer at heart and likes to bring his dog Noodles to work who we all dearly love at ISLE.
Products
Our paddle boards are designed by paddlers for paddlers. Our products team sources the best materials and uses the most state-of-the-art constructions and processes to create our paddle boards.
The head honcho in products, Mike Pilgrim has been with ISLE for many years where he has continues to refine and tailor the whole process. Our art director and graphic designer, Dave Vasquez has been with ISLE for 6 years creating unique designs and evolving our paddle board lineup to prevail as a leading innovator in the paddle board industry.
Marketing
The marketing team is the largest team at ISLE. These individuals are responsible for all social media, blogs, emails, advertisements and creative content on our website.
The Director of the team is Austin Cox who has been with the company for almost five years. Doug Robichaud curates all our blogs, sends every email and is the man behind the camera on 90% of all images you see at ISLE. Roxy Ng first started at ISLE in the Amazon channel and moved over to marketing to lead the paid social advertisements as well as our influencer program. If you follow us on any social media platform then you have seen Julie Riggerts work. Julie oversees every platform of social media as well as all collaborations and events we put on at ISLE. The newest member of the marketing department is Nick Palatella, our in-house videographer who creates product and lifestyle videos.
Sale & Operations
Undoubtedly, the most vital piece to keeping the wheels on the bus is our sales and operations department. This team makes sure we are hitting our forecast and are moving towards the same goal at the end of the day.
Our COO, Steve Mariucci leads the team and brings a wealth of experience from his past positions. Looking to learn some excel tricks? He’s your man! Robbie Shawn is responsible for managing our amazon channel as well as in charge of operations within customer support. Herwinth is our warehouse manager and oversees inventory and returns.
Financing
The numbers don’t lie. We have the most meticulous crew overlooking ISLE’s finances. Our accountant, Cody Kia moved from Hawaii not too long ago. Cody makes sure our books are tight, budgets are in place and taxes are paid.
ISLE Showroom
Even though most of our business is online, we thought it would be nice to give locals of San Diego an option to walk into a shop to touch and feel our boards. The ISLE Retail Store was born in 2012, currently only one block away from our headquarters in National City, CA.
Our ISLE Retail Store Manager, Jake Kreiss has been with ISLE for almost 5 years and continues to be the Supervisor of Stoke at the store. In addition to Jake, we have Jake Willis a Coronado surfer who’s always positive and has a ton of experience from surfing to paddling. Between the two of these guys, you’re guaranteed 5-star service that’ll make you want to come in to just talk stories.
The post Meet the ISLE team appeared first on ISLE Surf & SUP.