Respect Your Universe Inc. conitnued to build out its senior management team with the appointment of Manfred Vollmer as chief operating officer. Manfred joins RYU with 30+ years of international experience in retail, real estate, operations and strategic planning.
Manfred's past roles include Lululemon Athletica Inc., 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, Wal-Mart, IKEA, Metro Group and institute B. As the director of store development at Lululemon, he led the strategic implementation of 40+ new stores in Canada and the U.S. Manfred was instrumental for the early development of IKEA's supply chain management from suppliers to warehouses to stores to customers and with retail expansions into new countries.
"I'm thrilled to join RYU and to help build up its infrastructure for future growth,” said Vollmer. “It's my pleasure to work with Marcello and the team and see this company take off to the next level."
Marcello Leone, RYU's CEO, President and Chairman, stated, "We are extremely grateful to add Manfred to our management team. Given his past successful retail start-ups and expansions at IKEA, Wal-Mart and Lululemon, we are confident in his ability to lead an omni-channel expansion and growth at RYU. Manfred's entrepreneurial background in accelerating start-up operations and corporate strategic business development highlight this key addition for RYU." Respect Your Universe Inc. is a martial arts inspired performance training and fitness apparel brand created for the multisport athlete.
