leadership

RoD Foley, Co-Founder

A career that began in the Big 6 Accounting world at Arthur Andersen & Co. took a sudden left turn into the world of Running.  Rod spent almost fifteen years at Mizuno growing into ever-increasing roles that allowed him to shape the product and marketing strategy for Mizuno Running.   During that time Mizuno's Running shoes were the consistent recipients of industry awards, including over 20 by Runners' World alone.  As Vice President of Running Product, Rod was the first Global Leader of the category who resided outside of Japan in Mizuno's 100+ year history.   As the years building market leading product added up, so did Rod's disillusionment with the status quo of footwear manufacturing.  He can often be heard saying, "You only need to travel to Southern China once to know the current paradigm of making shoes needs to change." 5am Brands is the vehicle for Rod to help those who are looking to do just that.   To Do it Better.  For all of us.

Rod @ LinkedIn

dave lambert, CO-FOUNDER

Dave's career in the footwear industry began as an ill-fitting sport coat wearing, lanky 16 year-old retail sales associate at a family shoe store in the mall.  Through the years, roles and responsibilities have changed, but the passion to build winning teams and brands never has.  As Mizuno's youngest Vice President, he led the running sales team from the company's smallest volume division to the company's largest division in a handful of years at a 20%+ CAGR, and grew his team from 6 to 40+ members.  In the spirit of 5am, Dave's approach to growing a brand has never been conventional, but successful.  He originated unique sales/marketing initiatives aimed to engage consumers and retail associates in successful ways the industry had never seen.  His innovative thinking and proven results were recognized in his selection of Sporting Good Business Magazine's inaugural "40 Under 40" class.    

Dave @ LinkedIn

Greg Newman, CDO

One of the rare individual’s that turned his childhood dream into reality. At the tender age of 11, he knew that he was destined to design shoes. The avid track runner, sneaker enthusiast and artist, focused everything to realize that dream. His career began in the mailroom of the UK’s premiere running shoe retailer while earning his degree in Sports Science & Art. He spent 15 years within Mizuno, first in their UK office and later opening the company’s design studio in Portland, Oregon. His success at Mizuno led to a Creative Director role at Under Armour. There he imparted invaluable knowledge to help grow the running business into a serious contender within the industry. Greg has crafted stories, presentations, design languages and concepts into numerous award winning shoes and million pair plus franchises. He continues to challenge convention with his work and hopes his adult dream of making a difference in the world will also come true.