{"id":97378,"date":"2019-11-21T16:21:41","date_gmt":"2019-11-22T00:21:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/?p=97378"},"modified":"2019-12-05T22:06:06","modified_gmt":"2019-12-06T06:06:06","slug":"the-bold-legacy-of-gert-boyle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/news\/the-bold-legacy-of-gert-boyle","title":{"rendered":"The Bold Legacy of Gert Boyle"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 1970, women CEOs were virtually unheard of. The outdoor and adventure sport industries were largely controlled by men. Second-wave feminism surged across the U.S., but the concept of \u201cworking mothers\u201d was still a novelty at the dawn of the decade.<\/span><\/p>\n

Enter Gert Boyle.<\/span><\/p>\n

A sharp, savvy woman with a self-styled tough demeanor, she led Columbia Sportswear beginning in 1970 and blazed more than a few trails\u2014from defying ageism and sexism to democratizing outdoor wear\u2014during her 50-year career. Boyle, who served first as president and then as chairwoman for the outdoor brand, died November 3 at the age of 95. In her wake, she left an unmistakable impact on the recreation industry as a hard-hitting CEO at a time when the gender equity conversation consumed a mere sliver of the space it\u2019s beginning to occupy today.<\/span><\/p>\n

Born Gertrude Lafrom in 1924, Boyle\u2019s Jewish family immigrated to the U.S. when she was 13 to escape Nazi-controlled Germany. Settling the family in Portland, Oregon, her father founded the hat company that would grow into Columbia Sportswear, named for the great Columbia River flowing along the edge of the city. She worked there putting hatboxes together until she left to earn her sociology degree at the University of Arizona, where she met her husband-to-be Neal Boyle at a fraternity party. After they married in 1945, her father offered Neal a job at the family company. When her father died in 1964, Neal took over as president of Columbia.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Gert

Gert Boyle (1924\u20132019) as a young girl.\u00a0 In 1937, she fled Nazi-controlled Germany, moving to the United States with her family. (Photo Courtesy: Columbia Sportswear)<\/p><\/div>\n

Boyle filled a role as a stay-at-home mom to the couple\u2019s three children, mostly keeping out of the business, with the exception of innovating <\/span>a fishing vest<\/span><\/a> for her husband in 1959 that became a cornerstone piece for the company.<\/span><\/p>\n

Then Neal died unexpectedly of a heart attack in 1970. At 46 years old, with no business experience, Boyle stepped up and took the helm at Columbia. Over the next several years, along with her son Tim, she saved the debt-laden company and grew it into a household name\u2014a level of success Tim attributes to his mother\u2019s keen gut instinct paired with gritty survival sense. By 2018, Columbia\u2019s net sales reached nearly $3 billion.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cShe was able to transform a business that was struggling and in debt into one of the largest outdoor companies in the industry,\u201d said Jen Gurecki, CEO of Coalition Snow, the ski and snowboard company <\/span>she founded in response to the industry\u2019s relegation of women to the sidelines.<\/span> \u201cShe\u2019s proof of what women in leadership positions can accomplish, and she\u2019s a good reminder that they are capable of excellence even if they get into business \u2018later in life.\u2019 \u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Gert

Gert Boyle with her late husband, Neal. (Photo Courtesy: Columbia Sportswear)<\/p><\/div>\n

Many questioned Boyle\u2019s authority along the way. She told <\/span>Fortune Small Business<\/span><\/i> in a <\/span>2003 interview<\/span><\/a> that critics, including those who were employees, informed her repeatedly that she didn\u2019t know how to run the company because of her gender. \u201cBeing a woman certainly didn\u2019t help, based on how business people looked at managers or employees saw their managers,\u201d Tim said of those early years with his mother in charge. \u201cAnd not only was she a woman, she was inexperienced.\u201d But she pushed right back, usually in a matter-of-fact way, as when she famously replied to one caller who incredulously burst out upon learning she was president, \u201cBut you\u2019re a woman!\u201d with \u201cYou know, I noticed that when I woke up this morning.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Boyle began challenging traditional depictions of women as she carved out a space for herself in the boardrooms of the outdoor industry. Analyses of outdoor media reveal that women are usually portrayed for <\/span>sex appeal<\/span><\/a> or as <\/span>young moms taking kids outside<\/span><\/a>. Into this status quo, in the 1980s, Boyle launched Columbia\u2019s incredibly successful \u201c<\/span>Tough Mother<\/span><\/a>\u201d campaign, portraying herself as a robust, no-nonsense, gray-haired matriarch with exacting standards for her company\u2019s products. She was comically tough on her son in the ads, <\/span>strapping him to a car roof<\/span><\/a> or <\/span>encasing him in ice<\/span><\/a> to test apparel. \u201c<\/span>Mom enjoyed the scripts because it meant that I got hammered, but she was always treated like a rock star,\u201d Tim laughed fondly. \u201cShe got the best trailer and food and people taking care of her during production. And I was in a tent somewhere.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Gert

\u201c<\/span>Tough Mother\u201d<\/span> Gert Boyle, from the Columbia advertising archives. (Photo Courtesy: Columbia Sportswear)<\/p><\/div>\n

In all seriousness, he went on, <\/span>empowering women was <\/span>one of her greatest contributions. <\/span>He said in an interview with KMTR<\/span><\/a>, \u201cAt the end of the day, that was something that didn\u2019t happen with any frequency, and hopefully she was a big part of making women realize how important they can be in business.\u201d But she could be tough on Tim in that arena, too. \u201cMom was critical of me and the company right up until December of last year, when she did a TV interview and said I was too chauvinistic and didn\u2019t have enough women in the company,\u201d he said. \u201cBut her legacy is all through the company\u2014almost all senior financial executives are women, the most senior supply chain manager is a woman, the majority of design and merchandising teams are women\u2014women are in strong positions all throughout.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Boyle also helped democratize outdoor gear, leading Columbia to make its products more affordable and offer them in a wide range of stores. \u201cThat was a big focus for her, that we don\u2019t want to be exclusive, or tell people they can\u2019t buy our stuff because we don\u2019t want them wearing it, or they\u2019re not \u2018elite enough\u2019 to wear it,\u201d Tim said. \u201cShe always said that we need to make stuff that everyone can wear.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Those who knew her maintain she was kind and compassionate in everyday life, despite her tough public persona. \u201cShe was incredibly generous and philanthropic,\u201d Tim said. \u201cShe always said it was better to give with a warm hand than a cold one.\u201d She donated $100 million to the Knight Cancer Challenge at the Oregon Health and Science University, for example. And she\u2019d hoped to remain anonymous, but speculation on the donor led her to give permission to name her publicly.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Tim

Gert and Tim Boyle in the early years following Neal’s passing. (Photo Courtesy: Columbia Sportswear)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cGert was an amazing force in the outdoor industry,\u201d said <\/span>Susan Viscon, vice president of merchandising for REI. \u201c<\/span>I clearly remember the first time I met her: Twenty-four years ago, before REI, I lived in the Southwest and was invited to go to the Albuquerque balloon festival with the Columbia team. When it was our time to descend into a field in the countryside, we could see the chase truck following our path, and then suddenly there was this 70-year-old woman jumping out of the back of the pickup and running across the field to grab our hot air balloon basket. That was my introduction to Gert.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was the first time but not the last that I witnessed her living a life full of energy, humor and boundless enthusiasm for helping others. One of a kind, she will be missed greatly.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

There\u2019s one more legacy that Boyle\u2019s son Tim hopes will live on, far beyond the outdoor industry. \u201cLastly, and this is especially important at a time like we\u2019re in today in America, she represented a real immigrant story in how successful she was. We need more acceptance of people who come here under distress and are welcomed, like she was.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In 1970, women CEOs were virtually unheard of. The outdoor and adventure sport industries were largely controlled by men. Second-wave feminism surged across the U.S., but the concept of \u201cworking mothers\u201d was still a novelty at the dawn of the decade. Enter Gert Boyle. A sharp, savvy woman with a self-styled tough demeanor, she led […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":72,"featured_media":97381,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[685],"tags":[726,727,692,552],"internal-tag":[],"class_list":["post-97378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-force-of-nature","tag-latest-posts","tag-news","tag-rei-members"],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/rei.com\/blog\/news\/the-bold-legacy-of-gert-boyle","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"The Bold Legacy of Gert Boyle","url":"http:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/news\/the-bold-legacy-of-gert-boyle","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/news\/the-bold-legacy-of-gert-boyle"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2019\/11\/Gert-Boyle_Hero_Gert-Boyle-Archived-Columbia-Ad-3.jpg?resize=150%2C150","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2019\/11\/Gert-Boyle_Hero_Gert-Boyle-Archived-Columbia-Ad-3.jpg?fit=2125%2C1207"},"articleSection":"News","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jessica Bernhard"}],"creator":["Jessica Bernhard"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Uncommon Path \u2013 An REI Co-op Publication","logo":""},"keywords":["force of nature","latest posts","news","rei members"],"dateCreated":"2019-11-22T00:21:41Z","datePublished":"2019-11-22T00:21:41Z","dateModified":"2019-12-06T06:06:06Z"},"rendered":"