Safilo Group announced that the recently renovated Salvation Army building in Southeast Portland will serve as its Pacific Coast Design Center, the inspirational base for the product leadership activities of the Global Sports and Outdoor Lifestyle division, creating and developing all Safilo current and potential future brands and products targeted at this consumer segment. With the new location established, Safilo is also pleased to announce the promotion of Chatham Baker to Creative Director and Drew Chilson as Head of Product Creation following their ten years of creative dedication to the brand. Both positions report directly to Eric Carlson, recently named Global Design and Marketing Director, who through his eighteen-year tenure with the company, will continue to drive the brand evolution of SMITH.

In addition, Ron Hayes will take on the interim responsibility of overseeing the North American sports sales channel as an expansion of his current role as Integration Leader. Under Hayes, regional sales territories/sales units will continue to be managed by Rob Retzlaff, Scott Oliver, Mark Phares, Brian Cotsonas, Peter Crow, Mike Torres, and Darrell Tullis.