Ciele Athletics Names Nike Veteran as Head of U.S. and Canada Sales
Ciele Athletics has named a new head of sales for U.S. and Canada as the brand bolsters its presence in the run specialty channel.
The Montreal-based performance running brand tapped Scott Gravatt, a running industry veteran. The executive joins after a 15-year tenure at Nike, including as Nike Running sales director.
According to a company release, Ciele co-founder Jeremy Bresnen and Gravatt discovered that they had a shared enthusiasm for the way running speciality stores can cultivate run culture and serve as community hubs for the sport.
In a statement about Gravatt, Bresnen said the new hire is “an experienced sales leader in the run space and is an absolute cultural fit for what we’re trying to build in the U.S. and Canadian markets.”
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During his time at Nike, Gravatt spent nine years working in Nike Skateboarding followed by six years in Nike Running. He also spent a decade working at a surf shop.
“A lot of my work at Nike involved restructuring the way we dealt with small, independent run shops,” Gravatt said. “I am very passionate about small businesses and small-business ownership, and how important they are to local communities and sport culture.”
Gravatt’s hire is in line with Ciele’s commitment to growing its relationship with the run specialty channel across North America, an increasingly important avenue for running brands to connect with consumers. Even as hot running brands like Nike, On and Hoka narrow in on a DTC focus for distribution, they are still determined to have a strong presence in specialty running stores.
“The culture of running is important to the business of running, and that culture is heavily influenced by independent running stores bringing together people, brands, music, art, sports and fashion,” Gravatt said in a statement. “Ciele is a brand that speaks to all aspects of running culture.”
Ciele, which was founded in 2014 by Jeremy Bresnen and Mike Giles, offers perfomance apparel and accessories for runners. The brand launched its debut shoe collaboration with Norda in 2021 and has since collaborated with several shoe brands, such as Puma and Salomon, on other shoe collections.
