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Asked to describe her boss, new Backcountry.com CEO Jill Layfield, company spokeswoman Marit Fischer replied directly: "Very young, very capable. A total spitfire."
PR hype or accurate summary?
Judge for yourself.
At 36, Layfield became Backcountry.com's new CEO on Tuesday, taking over a company that has grown over the past 14 years to employ more than 700 people. Those workers are housed among four operations — in Park City, West Valley City, Salt Lake City and Costa Rica — and an increasing number of individual homes, handling more than 1,000 brands of high-quality outdoor gear sold through nine online stores within the Backcountry.com family.
Despite the feeble economy, the company Layfield is inheriting control of churned out 2.6 million orders last year, up from 215,000 in 2004. That latter year, which coincided with Layfield's arrival at Backcountry.com from the hallowed hallways of California's Silicon Valley, the company shipped out 3,000 orders on its best day. Last winter, that number grew to 40,000.
"My job is to help grow the industry, make the sports we represent accessible to a broad public," she said in an interview at Backcountry.com's office/warehouse/retail store at 2607 S. 3200 West.
"E-commerce is not going to slow down," she added. "But if you get complacent, you open yourself up to the next competitor who can arise quickly. If you're not wowing a customer, that customer is ours to lose. You have to stay hungry, stay nimble."
Jim Holland and John Bresee, the Olympic ski jumper and the ski bum who founded Backcountry.com in 1996, believe Layfield has the motivated, creative persona needed to guide their brainchild through the ever-exploding world of online retailing.
"Those who know Jill know her to be uncommonly energetic and upbeat. Her optimism and enthusiasm are contagious,"they noted last spring when she was promoted to chief operating officer. "One of Jill's greatest strengths is managing people. She is a pleasure to work with because she respects everyone's intelligence and capabilities, and she encourages us all to stretch and reach higher in pursuit of our shared goals."
Layfield has made a good impression on business people since her college days at Santa Clara, where she was known by her maiden name, Escover.
While working her way through the Silicon Valley school as a waitress, Layfield got to know some people from a local high-tech company who frequented the restaurant. Eventually, the firm's boss asked if she wanted to work for him. She accepted.
The company was 8x8, one of the largest Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) providers and a maker of videoconferencing equipment. One of Layfield's first jobs involved going to a store and promoting a videophone whose bugs were still being worked out.
"I really had to sell it. And I did," she said. "I sold some. It was a great first job and taught me a lot about marketing consumer products."
After 1½ years there, she joined InfoGear Technology Corp., which created Internet appliances, including an early iPhone. This job exposed Layfield to business-to-business marketing. But after InfoGear was bought by Cisco Systems in 2000, she decided "it was just too big for me, and [that] I like consumer product stuff."
Once again, personal connections she had forged paid dividends.
Layfield had established a friendship with Jim Clark, who earned his doctorate in computer science in 1974 from the University of Utah and went on to found, among other things, Netscape.
Clark was then also board chairman of an online photo-finishing business called Shutterfly.com. "He thought I'd be good there," Layfield said, and she took Clark up on an offer.
The opportunity turned out to be a good one for Layfield. "I had to learn a whole new skill set," she said, modifying traditional marketing principles to fit a direct-response online system in which data were available to show which promotions worked and which didn't.
"I had to get good at tracking campaigns and maximizing them," Layfield said.
This period of professional development occurred while she was becoming betrothed to Dominick Layfield, a biomedical engineer with a passion for rock climbing, trail running and skiing. In looking around for jobs they could pursue after marriage, in a place where they would want to live, they came upon Backcountry.com.
"What a freaking cool company to work for," she exclaimed as she recalled learning about the online retailer. "How many opportunities do you get to do something you love in a ski resort community where you can afford a home? So we took a gamble and did it."
It was 2004, and she hired on as director of customer marketing. Five years later she became vice president of product management, and a year after that chief operating officer. Each step elevated her understanding of the online retail business.
In marketing, she recognized the value of a website that appealed to what customers want and need, "not just how to get eyeballs there, but how to keep them coming back."
"I get that," Layfield added. "I get how important it is. I get all the pain and how much hard work the team has to do to keep up, to know the new places consumers are congregating."
Overseeing product management emphasized the need to give customers the best search engines, carts and checkout systems possible, and to anticipate what people find helpful. "If people come to our site and we don't convert them, we lose them," she said. "It was a one-year course on learning customer desires."
As chief operating officer, Layfield learned about managing inventory and the ins and outs of providing "blisteringly fast fulfillment" of service requests.
"I started to see how it all works together," she added. "I have an appreciation for keeping all the arms of the business talking to each other, working together, keeping the organization clear on 'How are we going to win?' and 'What's your role in getting us there?' That's everything."
As CEO, Layfield will serve as Backcountry.com's external face, attracting talent to the company, nurturing its corporate culture, setting its strategic vision in a constantly evolving e-world.
"We have to remain incredibly flexible," she said. "I believe in quick decisions, but we have to be able to course-correct if something in the market changes."
That's a challenging agenda, particularly for someone so young, and with the most-meaningful distraction of having a 3½-year-old daughter, Madeleine, and a baby due in July. But Layfield revealed little doubt that she feels up to it.
"If a person can do the job, age is not an issue," she said, applauding Holland and Bresee for populating the company with quality individuals. "They don't care who you are on the outside, it's what you contribute."
Layfield plans to follow that course, as well.
"I want people to feel this is a place where they can have a career. It's all about your attitude and aptitude."
Backcountry online
Backcountry.com has set up online stores that specialize in different categories of high-end gear, part of the company's goal of being closer to customers:
HuckNroll.com • mountain biking
RealCyclist.com • cycling
Bonktown.com • cycling
Chainlove.com • sunglasses
SteepandCheap.com • discounted items
Dogfunk.com • skiing, boarding
WhiskeyMilitia.com • variety store
Departmentofgoods.com • variety store Meet the new boss
Jill Layfield
Age 36
Communication degree from Santa Clara University, south of San Francisco
Worked previously for 8x8, InfoGear, Cisco Systems, Shutterfly.com
Joined Backcountry.com in 2004 as customer marketing director
Promoted internally to vice president of product management, chief operating officer and to CEO.
Married to Dominick Layfield, mother of one, soon to be two
Avid runner, climber, skier