NIWOT, COLORADO – January 16, 2008 – Crocs, Inc. (NASDAQ: CROX) today announced that Peter Case, currently Chief Financial Officer, has been appointed to the newly created position of Senior Vice President, Retail Division. The Company also announced that Russ Hammer has been named Chief Financial Officer, Senior Vice President-Finance and Treasurer. Both appointments are effective immediately.
Ron Snyder, President and Chief Executive Officer of Crocs, Inc. commented, “Peter has been overseeing the development and operations of our retail division and he has been instrumental in the successful opening of our domestic locations this past year. As we continue to explore additional opportunities for Crocs branded stores both in the United States and around the world we believe it is important to have a dedicated and experienced individual leading this segment of our business. Over the past several months Peter has been assembling a strong team of seasoned retail executives and operational personnel which I am confident are the right group to further evolve this new and exciting growth vehicle for our Company.”
Russ Hammer, 51, joins Crocs after a 30-year career at Motorola, Inc. [NYSE: MOT]. During his tenure, Mr. Hammer served the company in several senior level executive positions, most recently as Chief Financial Officer and Corporate Vice President of Motorola’s $5 billion Connected Home Solutions Business. In this role he oversaw all aspects of finance operations including acquisitions, business development, marketing and selling, engineering and supply chain operations. Other roles with Motorola included Chief Audit Officer, Chief Financial Officer- Asia Cellular Subscriber Business, and Chief Financial Officer- Global Paging Subscriber Business. In addition, Mr. Hammer was recognized by the Big 4 accounting firms for establishing best in class Enterprise Risk Management and Sarbanes Oxley Processes and for significantly improving Motorola’s corporate governance practices and Audit Committee effectiveness.
“We are very excited about Russ joining Crocs and believe he will be a terrific asset to our organization,” said Mr. Snyder. “Russ’s extensive background in finance, operations and development, combined with his international experience and leadership capabilities, will be invaluable as we continue to aggressively expand our global footprint. He is exceptionally well qualified to serve as our new Chief Financial Officer and I look forward to working closely with him to take this Company to the next level.”
About Crocs, Inc:
Crocs, Inc. is a rapidly growing designer, manufacturer and retailer of footwear for men, women and children under the Crocs™ brand.
All Crocs™ brand shoes feature Crocs’ proprietary closed-cell resin, Croslite™, which represents a substantial innovation in footwear. The Croslite™ material enables us to produce soft, comfortable, lightweight, superior-gripping, non-marking and odor-resistant shoes. These unique elements make Crocs™ footwear ideal for casual wear, as well as for professional and recreational uses such as boating, hiking, hospitality and gardening. The versatile use of the material has enabled us to successfully market our products to a broad range of consumers.
In 2006, the company acquired Jibbitz LLC, a unique accessory brand with colorful snap-on products specifically suited for Crocs shoes. Today, more than 1,200 Jibbitz designs are available to consumers for personalizing and customizing their Crocs™ footwear.
Please visit www.crocs.com for additional information.
Forward Looking Statements
The matters regarding the future discussed in this news release include forward-looking statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements related to development and expansion of our retail operations and qualifications of our management. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performances or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the following: our limited operating history; our significant recent expansion; changing fashion trends; our reliance on market acceptance of the small number of products we sell; our ability to develop and sell new products; our limited manufacturing capacity and distribution channels; our reliance on third party manufacturing and logistics providers for the production and distribution of our products; our reliance on a single-source supply for certain raw materials; our management and information systems infrastructure; our ability to obtain and protect intellectual property rights; the effect of competition in our industry; the effects of seasonality on our sales; our ability to attract, assimilate and retain management talent; and other factors described in our annual report on Form 10-K under the heading “Risk Factors,” and our subsequent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Readers are encouraged to review that section and all other disclosures appearing in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We do not undertake any obligation to update publicly any forward looking statement, including, without limitation, any estimate regarding revenues or earnings, whether as a result of the receipt of new information, future events, or otherwise.