New skipper at Pure Fishing
By Russ Oechslin Journal correspondent | Posted: Sunday, February 17, 2008
Tom Bedell, left, who recently stepped down as Interim President of the Spirit Lake, Iowa-based Pure Fishing, and newly named CEO/President Terry Carlson show off Pure Fishing's Gulp Alive. (Photo by Russ Oechslin)
SPIRIT LAKE, Iowa -- After nearly a year as interim president under the Coleman Co., in a time that included the merger of three companies, Tom Bedell is stepping aside.
Terry Carlson has been named CEO/President of the firm that Bedell's father, Berkley, began here some 70 years ago. Tom Bedell remains on the Pure Fishing board and will work on special projects.
Until this month Carlson was CEO of Raymarine Inc., the North American extension of Raymarine the company that he says "revolutionized the fishfinder with digital, high-definition fish imaging.''
Located in Merrimack, N.H,. Raymarine is a former Raytheon subsidiary, which was spun off in 2001. Now a British company, Raymarine is traded on the London stock exchange.
Coleman's parent company, Jarden Inc., recently acquired K2 Inc., the parent company of Penn and Shakespeare, among other top brand name outdoor products. Both brands will be operated as one company, under Pure Fishing, based in Spirit Lake.
While not strictly in the fishing market until the last couple weeks, Carlson has been doing his homework. His challenge, he says, is ''to get the three companies put together. And that is going to give us a lot of synergies in the sense of our go-to-market potential, because we have some incredible products that can really work in different brands.''
The combined companies have 12 brands, Carlson explains. "And some of those probably haven't lived up to their potential. But by putting the right products in the 12 brands we can really access things like salt water.''
In talking about salt water, Carlson cites industry figures that put the number of people fishing in salt waters up 35 percent.
"What we want to do is capitalize on that. While our company is extremely successful and caters to saltwater in all those different segments, we haven't taken advantage as much as we could yet -- of the explosion'' in the salt water business.
"It's coastal, of course. Obviously we've got to get to where the salt water is. We have to think about how we go to market in a different way to capture the salt water business,'' the new chief executive added.
Pure Fishing is a global business that has tried to appeal to every type of fishing market. ''In Europe we're a major player in the carp market; in Malaysia, the snakefish market,'' Bedell says. ''In the North American salt water market our Berkley Gulp is the hottest bait there is.''
Bedell adds that Carlson will be creating ''one fishing tackle business. It isn't how do we look at them separately. It is how do we take these 12 brands, how do we take all these great resources, how do we take this world-wide market, and create the greatest company we possibly can.
''The big advantage we have with the Penn and Shakespeare and Pure Fishing joined together is that the potential that Penn has as a world-wide salt water brand is huge. And it will allow us to take products that we have from Shakespeare, like the Ugly Stick (spinning or casting rod), and our Berkley line technology, and build a whole network of the salt water business. So we're really excited about the opportunity with Penn and Shakespeare, one of the oldest fishing tackle brands in the world. And it's going to be a great partner.
''Those opportunities are now to use those resources that we now have to maximize the impact we can have on catching more fish, on catching more anglers, on being a better partner to our retail partners. That’ll help us grow here. That'll help us grow in our Columbia operation. It'll help us grow in our international distribution markets.
''Our hope is that the rising tide is going to lift all boats.''
Putting it more simply, Bedell explains that ''because of the efforts and success of its co-workers, the world's largest fishing tackle company, that we've built over 70 years, with headquarters in Spirit Lake, Iowa, earned this as being the place where we put together this great company. It will be driven and headquartered out of Spirit Lake.''
Carlson said he and his wife will be moving to the Iowa Great Lakes as soon as he can sell his home in New Hampshire.
The Indiana University business administration graduate has considerable marketing experience with Black & Decker, Emerson Electric, Polaroid, and most recently Raymarine.
In the last 25 years Carlson has lived and worked in Chicago, Louisville, Boston, Baltimore, and Shelton, Ct.
"The last two years I was there (with Black & Decker) and my wife loved this I was 'General Manager of Cooking and Cleaning.' That's what my business card said. She, of course, was the CEO of ''Cooking and Cleaning'' at home.
"It was like a $250 million business that I ran there that was eventually sold off.
It was a fun business. I ran DustBusters and Toaster Ovens. We just had a hoot of a good time. When I was there we had the Snakelight (in the housewares business), which was just explosive. It went from zero to $150 million in sales in less than six months.''
Terry Carlson has been named CEO/President of the firm that Bedell's father, Berkley, began here some 70 years ago. Tom Bedell remains on the Pure Fishing board and will work on special projects.
Until this month Carlson was CEO of Raymarine Inc., the North American extension of Raymarine the company that he says "revolutionized the fishfinder with digital, high-definition fish imaging.''
Located in Merrimack, N.H,. Raymarine is a former Raytheon subsidiary, which was spun off in 2001. Now a British company, Raymarine is traded on the London stock exchange.
Coleman's parent company, Jarden Inc., recently acquired K2 Inc., the parent company of Penn and Shakespeare, among other top brand name outdoor products. Both brands will be operated as one company, under Pure Fishing, based in Spirit Lake.
While not strictly in the fishing market until the last couple weeks, Carlson has been doing his homework. His challenge, he says, is ''to get the three companies put together. And that is going to give us a lot of synergies in the sense of our go-to-market potential, because we have some incredible products that can really work in different brands.''
The combined companies have 12 brands, Carlson explains. "And some of those probably haven't lived up to their potential. But by putting the right products in the 12 brands we can really access things like salt water.''
In talking about salt water, Carlson cites industry figures that put the number of people fishing in salt waters up 35 percent.
"What we want to do is capitalize on that. While our company is extremely successful and caters to saltwater in all those different segments, we haven't taken advantage as much as we could yet -- of the explosion'' in the salt water business.
"It's coastal, of course. Obviously we've got to get to where the salt water is. We have to think about how we go to market in a different way to capture the salt water business,'' the new chief executive added.
Pure Fishing is a global business that has tried to appeal to every type of fishing market. ''In Europe we're a major player in the carp market; in Malaysia, the snakefish market,'' Bedell says. ''In the North American salt water market our Berkley Gulp is the hottest bait there is.''
Bedell adds that Carlson will be creating ''one fishing tackle business. It isn't how do we look at them separately. It is how do we take these 12 brands, how do we take all these great resources, how do we take this world-wide market, and create the greatest company we possibly can.
''The big advantage we have with the Penn and Shakespeare and Pure Fishing joined together is that the potential that Penn has as a world-wide salt water brand is huge. And it will allow us to take products that we have from Shakespeare, like the Ugly Stick (spinning or casting rod), and our Berkley line technology, and build a whole network of the salt water business. So we're really excited about the opportunity with Penn and Shakespeare, one of the oldest fishing tackle brands in the world. And it's going to be a great partner.
''Those opportunities are now to use those resources that we now have to maximize the impact we can have on catching more fish, on catching more anglers, on being a better partner to our retail partners. That’ll help us grow here. That'll help us grow in our Columbia operation. It'll help us grow in our international distribution markets.
''Our hope is that the rising tide is going to lift all boats.''
Putting it more simply, Bedell explains that ''because of the efforts and success of its co-workers, the world's largest fishing tackle company, that we've built over 70 years, with headquarters in Spirit Lake, Iowa, earned this as being the place where we put together this great company. It will be driven and headquartered out of Spirit Lake.''
Carlson said he and his wife will be moving to the Iowa Great Lakes as soon as he can sell his home in New Hampshire.
The Indiana University business administration graduate has considerable marketing experience with Black & Decker, Emerson Electric, Polaroid, and most recently Raymarine.
In the last 25 years Carlson has lived and worked in Chicago, Louisville, Boston, Baltimore, and Shelton, Ct.
"The last two years I was there (with Black & Decker) and my wife loved this I was 'General Manager of Cooking and Cleaning.' That's what my business card said. She, of course, was the CEO of ''Cooking and Cleaning'' at home.
"It was like a $250 million business that I ran there that was eventually sold off.
It was a fun business. I ran DustBusters and Toaster Ovens. We just had a hoot of a good time. When I was there we had the Snakelight (in the housewares business), which was just explosive. It went from zero to $150 million in sales in less than six months.''
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