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Benchmade Signs on Multiple New Leaders

June 29, 2020

Benchmade has made three key additions to its leadership team. A new Executive Vice President, VP of Marketing, and Senior Director of Sales have all been put in place to lead Benchmade forward through 2020 and beyond.

Kristine Gittins is stepping into the Executive Vice President role after nearly eight years at Benchmade as their VP of Finance. Her new role is still very much finance-focused, but now with an even wider scope, focusing on the day-to-day operations as well as the path the company will take going forward. “Kristine has been an integral part of the culture and success at Benchmade and her promotion caps off a year that has challenged every industry,” says Benchmade President Jon de Asis.

Charles Darby, the new Senior Director of Sales, is another Benchmade veteran. The promotion is the latest development in a 15-year career at the company. As the title implies, Darby will be at the head of the sales side of Benchmade’s business, working with both the internal talent and external retail partners to facilitate the growth of the market presence of the brand.

Benchmade is bringing in some outside talent alongside these two in-house promotions. Joe Prebich is the newly appointed VP of Marketing at Benchmade. His background is diverse, with work both in the outdoors market and outside of it. He had roles at companies like Red Bull, Oakley, and Fjällräven before signing on with Benchmade. “The reputation and dedication to quality is what drew me to the brand, but it is the people that I met along the way that proved Benchmade is truly committed,” says Prebich. “I look forward to working with the entire organization and to share this incredible story with customers across the world.”

These announcements cap off a pretty busy few months for Benchmade. Despite the loss of company founder Les de Asis at the beginning of the year, and the incredible difficulties everyone is facing during this global pandemic, Benchmade has managed to turn out quite the string of releases, the latest of which was the 85 Billet Ti Balisong.

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