The Executive Track Returns for Second Year as Outdoor Industry’s Only CEO-Focused Conference

August 30, 2025

The event for emerging outdoor leaders delivers 79 NPS score in debut year, attracts founders of Mountain Hardwear, GCI Outdoor, LifeStraw, and other leading brands

DURANGO, CO /ENDURANCE SPORTSWIRE/ – The Executive Track, the outdoor industry’s premier conference exclusively designed for CEOs of emerging product brands, announced its return for a second year and will be co-located with Outdoor Media Summit, October 27-29, 2025 in Durango, Colorado.

Following a successful inaugural year that attracted 30 CEOs and achieved a 79 Net Promoter Score, the highly curated conference is expanding to accommodate 40-50 outdoor industry business leaders this year.

Launched in October 2024 during Outdoor Media Summit in Missoula, The Executive Track addresses a critical gap in outdoor industry education by focusing on founder/CEOs of outdoor companies generating between $1-30 million in revenue.

“Founder-led brands are the innovation center of our industry, but they often get overlooked,” said Kenji Haroutunian, producer of The Executive Track. “We cover topics that scrappy companies need to stay on top of, like scaling, raising capital, exiting, and the M&A environment.”

Industry Heavyweights Return
This year’s speaker roster includes outdoor industry veterans who will share their secrets, including Mike Wallenfels, co-founder of Mountain Hardwear, and Jeff Polke, founder of GCI Outdoor, who have partnered to launch PackFire; and Stephen Regenold, who sold the media property Gear Junkie to help create All Gear Digital. Other notable names speaking this year include Alison Hill, CEO of LifeStraw; Gabe Maier, Executive Director of Grassroots Outdoor Alliance; Thor Tingey, CEO of Alpacka Rafts; Deanne Buck, CEO of BRANWYN; and Jeff Wagner, CEO of Mayfly Outdoor.

“The Executive Track fills a void that’s existed in our industry for years,” said Andrew Gibbs Dabney, CEO of LIVSN. “Outdoor Media Summit is the best event in the outdoor industry right now.”

Tactical Education That Drives Results
Unlike traditional trade shows that blend networking with general-level education, The Executive Track delivers concentrated, tactical content across critical business areas. This year’s agenda includes sessions on manufacturing strategy, exit planning, scaling to eight figures, industry forecasting, and M&A trends.

Brandon Horoho, CEO of Montana Knife Company, credits the conference with immediate business impact: “I’ve been to a couple conferences since but that executive track, everything we learned that second day, we brought that into the company in a couple months. The knowledge we got from the forecasters, it’s all coming true.”

2025 Session Highlights:

• Pros and Cons of Made in USA: A Roadmap featuring CEOs from Alpacka Rafts, Mayfly Outdoor, and Voormi
• Planning Your Exit: Tips, Pitfalls and Dodged Bullets with PackFire founders and Stephen Regenold, founder of Gear Junkie
• 8 Figures in 8 Years: Secrets to Scaling led by LifeStraw, Garage Grown Gear, and BRANWYN executives
• State of the Industry and A Look Ahead featuring insights from Grassroots Outdoor Alliance and Circana.
• State of Finance and M&A in the Outdoor Industry with investment banking leaders like Houlihan Lokey

The “Secrets Promise” Difference
What sets The Executive Track apart is its commitment to substance over sales pitches. Every speaker must agree to “share secrets on the topic and not speak in vague terms or turn this speaking opportunity into a sales pitch.” This promise translates into actionable insights participants can immediately implement.

Exclusive Access, Proven Results
The Executive Track maintains its boutique character through selective attendance. Registration is limited to CEOs of outdoor product brands, with organizers committed to curating the attendance.

The conference runs concurrently with Outdoor Media Summit, allowing CEO attendees access to shared keynotes and networking opportunities with 200 high-profile media and marketing professionals from leading outdoor brands.

Looking Ahead
Building on year-one success, organizers are developing plans to transform The Executive Track into a year-round networking and education resource for the outdoor industry’s emerging leadership class, with expanded programming planned for future events. “OMS was incredible! I would love to participate again and help in any way that I can,” said Deanne Buck, President of BRANWYN, a two-time Inc 5000 company.

Registration
The Executive Track takes place October 27-29, 2025, in downtown Durango, Colorado. Registration is available through the Outdoor Media Summit website at outdoormediasummit.com/ticket/executive-track/. Attendance is limited and restricted to CEOs of outdoor product brands generating $1-30 million in annual revenue. Those interested in attending or sponsoring OMS as a brand, email yoon@outdoormediasummit.com.

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About The Executive Track
The Executive Track is the outdoor industry’s only conference designed exclusively for CEOs of emerging product brands. Now in its second year, the conference delivers tactical education, strategic insights, and peer networking opportunities specifically tailored to the challenges facing outdoor industry leaders scaling companies from $1-30 million in revenue. The Executive Track runs concurrently with Outdoor Media Summit in Durango, Colorado.

About Outdoor Media Summit
Outdoor Media Summit is where the brightest minds in media and marketing gather to share secrets, forecast the future and make more money. This year’s conference will take place in the heart of Downtown Durango, Colorado, October, 27-29, 2025.

Contact Information:

Yoon Kim

yoon@outdoormediasummit.com