Where Are They Now?
Previous Journey Personalities Revisited One thing we know about our alumni – their pursuit of knowledge and growth is unending. We caught up with several who were featured in previous issues of The Journey.
What he likes best about the move? “My wife and I would have different answers. Mine is that it has been great to build a team from scratch, work on an iconic brand that is making its transition from family owned to a publicly traded, global company and part of an industry that consumers have a lot of passion for. My wife’s favorite part of my role is that I now do almost 100% of the cooking/grilling in the family.”
From our Spring 2015 Issue:
KYLE SCHLEGEL 2015: VP of Marketing – Louisville Slugger Now: Sr. Director, Product Marketing – Weber Inc.
MICHAEL MARKESBERY 2015: Senior at Miami with a minor in entrepreneurship. Founded Lukla with fellow student Rithvik (Rith) Venna Now: CEO of OROS
After our story went to print, Louisville Slugger was acquired by Wilson Sporting Goods, and Kyle moved to Winnetka, IL to lead Global Marketing for Wilson Racquet Sports Division.
After graduation, Michael and Rith continued to grow their company, rebranding it “OROS,” which is ancient Greek for “mountain.” They launched a digitally native apparel brand, www.orosapparel.com and released limited edition jacket collaborations with former NASA Astronauts.
In 2020, he moved to Weber, Inc – the maker of the iconic Weber grills and accessories. He created and now leads an all-new Product Marketing function at Weber.
They moved to Portland to be closer to industry experts and sources. To date, they have raised over $20 million in venture capital from leading investment firms , including Enlightenment Capital, Thomas Tull, Michael Lynton and Elizabeth Street Ventures.
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