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| About Us: Management Team |
CEO and Co-founder:
Jim Holland
Jim Holland, 41, is a two-time Olympian and six-time national champion Nordic ski jumper. Holland was a member of the US Ski Team for nine years. After graduating from the University of Vermont, Holland migrated to Utah and founded Wasatch Web Works, a Web development company. Holland then teamed with John Bresee to found Backcountry.com, the online source for high-end outdoor gear. Holland's focus on cost-effective retailing has led to exceptional year-over-year growth. Jim continues to be an avid athlete in all aspects. From rallying company Ultimate Frisbee games at lunch to long adventurous backcountry ski tours, Jim approaches everything outdoors with the same passion and focus that has made Backcountry.com the success it is today.
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President and Co-founder:
John Bresee
John Bresee, 41, is a lifelong ski bum who has flipped burgers at Alta, washed dishes at Snowbird and taught skiing at Stowe. After the rock-star appeal of dish-washing wore off, he became a writer/entrepreneur. Bresee launched the Wasatch Canyon Reporter newspaper, co-founded Backcountry.com and became editor of Powder Magazine. His work has been published in Bike, Skiing, Powder and other outdoor rags. Bresee graduated from Johnson State College with a BA in psychology.He is a plainspoken commentator on the world of e-commerce and has presented at industry conferences like Internet Retailer Shop.org, Etail, and the RBC Tech Conference. Bresee's passion for skiing has not waned with time as he can often be found near the front of the line as the lifts open on the deepest of powder days. Intensely fascinated by the power of the internet and the multitude of options it creates for business, Bresee spends what little spare time he has researching the ends of the internet for the next wave. His hobby is helping entrepreneurs understand the power of the internet.
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Chief Marketing Officer:
Dustin Robertson
 Dustin Robertson, 34, is a graduate of the University of Utah with a BS in marketing. Although he grew up in California and Georgia, Utah was the family ski destination each year which infused in him a desire to move west as soon as possible. He received a subsequent education in ski bumming from Snowbird, after which he was the sales manager of the Wasatch Canyon Reporter and Marketing Manager for Valassis Communications Inc. with direct responsibility for the Kraft, Kellogg's, and Nabisco accounts. Joining Backcountry.com was a perfect fit for Robertson to combine his marketing vision with his desire to be surrounded by outdoor oriented individuals. Dustin has sculpted his career and education around his passion for the outdoors and backcountry skiing specifically. However, he has recently turned his skiing focus back to his roots of alpine skiing as the new technology and equipment have finally reached his high standards. Outdoor Passion:
Backcountry Skiing - "If I could backcountry ski 24-7 that would be cool with me" Outdoor Gear I'll Never Part With:
Arc'teryx Gamma MX Jacket
Arc'teryx Theta SK Pant
Oakley Half Jacket Sunglasses
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Chief Financial Officer:
Scott Klossner
Scott Klossner is the Chief Financial Officer at Backcountry.com. Scott has more than 23 years of financial and executive experience. Prior to joining Backcountry in 2005, he served as CFO and other finance positions with HomeClub, SportsClub, Major Market, and Big O Tires. His expansive experience includes public offerings, Sarbanes-Oxley compliance, mergers and acquisitions, institutional negotiations, strategic planning and analysis, productivity enhancement, and team building. Scott holds a BA in finance from the University of Utah and an MBA in finance and economics from the University of Southern California. He lives in Salt Lake City with his wife and three children.
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CIO:
Kelly Phillipps
Kelly Phillipps was a bit stunned the first time he was referred to as a “gray beard,” but eventually he settled into the reality that over 20 years as an Information Systems Professional qualifies him for senior status. Kelly has had a stream of fun jobs at exciting high-growth companies, which leads him to believe his best skill is being lucky. Skill or fortune has carried Kelly from his humble beginnings as a Data Processing Supervisor at the United States Postal Service to his current role as the CIO at Backcountry.com.
Along the way Kelly held several positions at Franklin International Institute (later to become Franklin Covey), when they held a top spot as one of Americas fastest-growing companies. For most of his time at Franklin, Kelly was in IT related roles but in the early days of ecommerce, he saw the Internet as an unrecognized but strong opportunity for Franklin so he moved to what he calls “the dark side” and took a revenue generating role as the Director of Ecommerce.
Kelly was then asked by the late Ray Noorda (a Utah billionaire known as the father of network computing) to lead an Internet startup and help pioneer ways of delivering software as a service over the internet for his portfolio companies. As the CEO of Center 7 Kelly designed and oversaw the construction of a world class data center and built a talented team of marketing, sales, and development people who created and hosted high-performance web sites for well-funded dot com companies. After helping create several successful transactions for the original investors of Center 7 Kelly decided to return to his roots in Enterprise IT and ecommerce, and he took on the position of Director of IT Operations with OC Tanner—the leading company in delivering employee recognition programs. At OC Tanner, Kelly directed the operations group that managed the enterprise and internet services and then moved on to an even broader role as Enterprise Architect where Backcountry.com found him—and stole him.
Kelly is the current president of the Utah Society of Information Management, the premiere organization in Utah for IT leaders, and he is a published author and sought- after speaker on a broad variety of topics including Open Source, leadership, IT, and eCommerce.
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VP, Product Management:
Jill Layfield
 In 2004, Jill Layfield stumbled upon a posting for a marketing position with a small eCommerce company called Backcountry.com and decided to send over her resume. Little did she know she’d not only uproot from the San Francisco bay area to Park City, UT, but that she’d also move up through the ranks from Backcountry’s Director of Customer Marketing role to become the VP of Product Development. Prior to joining the Backcountry team, Jill most recently held a Senior Manager of Customer Marketing position at Shutterfly.com, where she managed customer acquisition, retention and loyalty, partner marketing, and retail business development programs. She’s also held marketing positions with Cisco Systems, Infogear (a startup focused on the marketing for Internet appliances), and 8x8 (a manufacturer of videoconferencing products and a VOIP service provider). Jill graduated from Santa Clara University with a BA in Communications. When she’s not tearing down the Backcountry hallway to her next meeting, she loves to climb, trail run, ski, and mountain bike with her husband, daughter, and two dogs.
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VP of Fulfillment:
Jeff Carter
Jeff Carter, 46, is a native of Utah and the Wasatch Front. He left Utah to pursue a degree in Finance and Real Estate Management from Cal State University, Hayward. His career started and continued for 15 years with Mervyn's California in the Logistic Division where he managed almost every department in two of their state-of-the-art distribution centers. He also served on several internal improvement and community relations committees. Carter then took his expertise and drive to the Sundance Catalog Company, spending two and a half successful years as manager over warehousing, distribution, and transportation. In joining Backcountry.com, Carter saw the future potential for the company as well as himself. Jeff is an avid hiker. In fact, when not at work 2-3 times a week he can be found hiking his favorite peak in the world, Lone Peak. In an effort to keep up with his three daughters, he gave up skiing two years ago and is now passionate about snowboarding. Needless to say he's committed to his family.
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VP of Merchandising:
Jeff Snyder
Jeff joined Backcountry with more than 20 years of retail merchandising and planning experience under his belt. His career started at Federated and May Company Department Stores where he served first as a buyer in children’s apparel then moved onto buying men’s apparel.
As May Company underwent some office consolidation, he opted to stay in gorgeous Portland, OR, instead of moving to traffic-jammed Los Angeles. In Portland, he went to work at Fred Meyer as the Vice President of Sporting Goods and Home Improvement. He managed team sports, fishing, hunting, hardware and tools, and storage. After several years at Fred Meyer, the opportunity to manage one of the largest outdoor businesses in the nation presented itself, and he moved to Denver to join The Sports Authority as the Vice President of the Outdoor Division where he managed camping, fishing, and hunting. Finally, in 2007, the world’s premier outdoor gear etailer offered him a job, and he couldn’t pass it up. Backcountry.com is the job he had always dreamed of. It is the opportunity to combine his passion for the outdoors with that of his career aspirations. At Backcountry.com, Jeff oversees all of the company’s merchandise. This includes planning, purchasing, and promotions. Born and raised in Washington, Jeff has always had a passion for the outdoors. Hobbies include skiing, mountaineering, backpacking, and fishing. His favorite place to spend time is the North Cascades of Washington. Jeff lives in Heber City, and when not getting lost in the mountains, he stays busy spending time with his wife and three children.
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Director of Human Resources:
Van Potter
 Van Potter is a native of the red rocks and pinion of southern Utah. He is old, very old, older than anyone on this page. His checkered career includes rodeo cowboy, uranium miner, commercial actor, and flying college instructor on the Navajo reservation. With a B.A from Southern Utah University and M.Ed from Brigham Young, he embarked on a career in Human Resource Management. He has worked with Intermountain Healthcare, The Maurice Warshaw Foundation, Maxcomm Consulting, and the past ten years with Fidelity Investments. His interests are sustainable living, passive solar energy, and organic gardening. He’s currently designing a house for his small rancho near Capitol Reef National Park. His free time is spent running with Molly, the Corgi, breeding and training Quarter horses, gardening, teaching his granddaughter, Gabriella, bad habits, and hanging out with his beloved wife, Lisa.
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