Bryan Poerner has been named country manager for Diadora USA. In this role, he will oversee all sales, marketing and operations for the brand in North America.

Poerner joined Diadora in 2017 as sport sales manager and has spearheaded the brand’s development in the U.S. run specialty market. Under Poerner’s leadership, the brand is now carried in over 200 run specialty stores around the country. Diadora’s Mythos footwear collection is sold only in the run specialty category and the brand has set up a unique program where revenue from its online consumer direct sales is shared with run specialty accounts.

In addition to running, Poerner oversees Diadora’s business in performance tennis, performance soccer, and heritage product that pays homage to the brand’s Italian roots and sport classics.

“Running will remain a key part of what we do in the U.S. long term,” Poerner says. “This is the direction laid out by our president Enrico Polegato, and we are happy to embrace and accelerate this in North America. Diadora has a great history in running and there is great passion among our executive team for the sport and the role it will play in our growth.”

Gelindo Bordin, the only man to win both the Boston Marathon and an Olympic Gold Medal in the Marathon, is the global director of sport marketing for Diadora and there are numerous other Olympic runners on the global business development team.

Poerner was a collegiate runner at The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey and later a Puma athlete. After graduating college, he produced records and toured the country in a couple of punk rock bands. During this time he also went to work for Puma, where he spent 14 years, and was eventually named national accounts manager.

Poerner says Diadora is run in a collaborative fashion that reminds him of his DIY Punk days. “We create what we think is right and bring that to the market. I am lucky to be an environment that allows for that sort of imagination and to have a President who is embraces these ideals. Working with Enrico and the entire Italian team has been one of my greatest joys of my professional career.”