{"id":710998,"date":"2026-06-02T23:14:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-02T23:14:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/710998\/"},"modified":"2026-06-02T23:14:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T23:14:08","slug":"charles-russell-takes-over-kona-as-new-ceo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/710998\/","title":{"rendered":"Charles Russell takes over Kona as new CEO"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Kona\u2019s been on a wild ride the last few years. After being bought from its founders by Kent Outdoor, then being <a href=\"https:\/\/cyclingmagazine.ca\/mtb\/original-kona-owners-step-in-to-save-brand\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">bought back by those same founders a few years later<\/a>, the iconic brand is again on the upswing, New releases like the LBF and some ebikes are joining a proven line-up of bikes covering gravel, mountain bike and a whole bunch of weird niches in between.<\/p>\n<p>OG and Re-founders step back<\/p>\n<p>Now, the storied brand will have a new leader. Dan Gerhard and Jake Heilbron, who originally founded Kona in Vancouver way back when and eventually relocated the brand to Bellingham, Washington, are stepping into new roles with the brand. Stepping in at the helm as President and Chief Executive Officer is Charles Russell.<\/p>\n<p>Russell has experience at several other bike brands that he\u2019ll bring to the new role, including Rocky Mountain and Yeti. He already works for Kona, starting as Chief Revenue Officer with the brand in spring of 2025.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe past year has been about rebuilding Kona with intention and integrity, and that work has created real momentum. The business is experiencing industry-leading growth. Dan and Jake have positioned the company for a strong future, and I\u2019m proud to step into this role at such an important time. With a newly formed leadership team that blends deep experience with fresh perspective, we\u2019re very excited about the growth opportunities for the business,\u201d said Russell.<\/p>\n<p>Russell doesn\u2019t just bring boardroom experience to Kona. He recently finished the BC Bike Race, racing as a team. And, for what its worth, he\u2019s passed on that love of cycling to his son, multi-time national champion Evan Russell.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s safe to say many riders, in Canada and around the world, have fond memories of Kona as a brand. It\u2019s exciting to see the brand has a positive new direction moving forward.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kona\u2019s been on a wild ride the last few years. After being bought from its founders by Kent&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":710999,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[445],"tags":[49,48,258041,635,172510,62722,82],"class_list":["post-710998","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-charles-russell","tag-cycling","tag-kona","tag-mtb-news","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/710998","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=710998"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/710998\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/710999"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=710998"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=710998"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=710998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}