Lyndi Bell, Chaco & Alex Adema, DPS Skis Pivot to Produce, Source and Donate PPE, Follow up to OIA and SIA Webinar, Part II

This episode is the second installment following the panel I led for Outdoor Industry Association (OIA) and the Snowsports Industries of America (SIA) focusing on manufacturers pivoting to produce Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). The full webinar took place on April 13th with leaders from Outdoor Research, Chaco, DPS Skis, and the Office of Outdoor Recreation for the State of North Carolina.

Lyndi Bell, Chaco’s Consumer Experience Marketing Director, is the first interview in this double-header show. It’s so inspiring to hear Lyndi talk through the process and journey she and her team at Chaco took to shift production from sandals to sewing face masks. With a focus on masks that could be more widely distributed to organizations other than hospitals, they were able to open the way for the essential healthcare workers to utilize the N95 masks. She and the team at Chaco found purpose in the chaos when the COVID-19 spread was just beginning in the US and was able to pivot their production, internal team and even their mobile factory, a converted school bus, into a PPE manufacturing facility. 

Alex Adema, President and CEO of DPS Skis, joins me for the second half of the show. The story of how DPS connected with three other outdoor recreation brands in Salt Lake City is nothing short of heartening and inspiring. DPS Skis, Petzl, Goal Zero and Eastman Manufacturing together pivoted through nimble collaboration. Petzl’s headlamp straps, Goal Zero’s financial support and raw materials and machinery from Eastman propelled the DPS Ski manufacturing facility pivot forward. The four companies collectively experienced strong morale boost that continues as the commitment to PPE grows.

The third and final installment of this special Channel Mastery podcast series, which is part of the COVID-19 content continually being produced by Verde Brand Communications, showcases the companies and organizations featured on the April 14, 2020 OIA and SIA panel on a deeper level. The final episode is one of the best, and features Jason Duncan on Outdoor Research. You’ll be blown away by the level of commitment and resilience displayed daily by the Outdoor Research team. Subscribe to the Channel Mastery podcast today, and never miss an episode! 

NOTE: This Channel Mastery episode offers two interviews that initially aired on Facebook Live on Thursday, April 17, 2020. 

Residing in Grand Rapids, Lyndi Bell found her love for the outdoors along the sandy shorelines and thick forests of Michigan. Lyndi was part of the #chaconation long before joining the brand‘s marketing team 3 years ago.  At Chaco, she has had the opportunity to lead a number of programs including retail marketing and visual merchandising, partner collaborations, and key account management.  This past year, her role has primarily been focused on experiential marketing which included converting a school bus into a mobile repair factory for the brand, similar to the larger ReChaco facility in Michigan.  It likewise, also included the unexpected opportunity to pivot when it became clear experience marketing in 2020 would look very different than originally planned due to Covid-19.

Alex Adema is the CEO of DPS Skis, headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah. Before joining DPS Skis in 2015, Alex’s background consisted of distinctly varied and unique experiences in both, large corporate and entrepreneurial start-up organizations. This began with a decade of experience in the financial services industry before making an unorthodox shift to focus on founding two non-profit community oriented startup organizations. After these successful launches, Alex transitioned to managing a venture development organization in upstate New York. Alex earned his bachelor’s degree in Economics & Business from Colorado College, an Executive MBA from The University of Buffalo (SUNY), and the Lean Operations Executive Education Management Certificate from the University of Utah's David Eccles School of Business in 2019.