INDUSTRY NEWS

TEANECK, NJ (August 24, 2009)—Aetrex Worldwide has announced that John Popham and Michel Racine have joined Aetrex Canada as market managers. Popham and Racine are both have over 30 years of footwear experience and are former owners of their own sales agencies. They will be responsible for building the Aetrex brand and driving sales of the company’s footwear and footcare product lines, with Popham covering the Central Canadian market and Racine covering Eastern Canada. Aetrex Canada was launched this June. “With the launch of Aetrex Canada, we are building an excellent, experienced sales force to hit the ground running. We have high hopes that the brand can make significant inroads into the retail market while continuing to solidify our medical base,” said Richard Schnaittacher, vice president of international sales.

As the director of national sales/national account manager for Kodiak Group Inc., Popham led a sales force of ten and developed programs for national accounts such as Sears, Wal-mart, Zellers and Canadian Tire. For eleven years he also ran his own agency, John Popham Sales Agency, representing several brands including Florsheim, Savage/Brown, Saucony and Kodiak and achieved over 18 percent growth with Canada’s largest men’s clothier, Freeds of Windsor.

Racine was formerly the regional sales manager for Central and Eastern Canada with Rockport Canada, responsible for the sales management of the Rockport brand in Feet First, Globo, Browns Shoes, Forzani, FX Lasalle, JP Fortin and Bo Pieds. Racine also managed his own agency, Agences Michel Racine Inc., which represented brands such as Teva, Spalding, And 1, Dansko and Russell Athletic for the Province of Québec and the Ottawa Valley. He was also the vice president of sales for Converse All-Star Canada.

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