Pulliam joins Jackson Kayak

Paddlesports industry veteran Joe Pulliam has joined the senior management team of Jackson Kayak. Tapped to bring insights gleaned from building kayak brands and sales to industry-leading positions, Pulliam describes his role with Jackson Kayak as a generalist who will be influencing decisions across a broad swathe of company operations.

Jackson Kayak founder Eric “EJ” Jackson touted Pulliam’s arrival as an endorsement of the Jackson Kayak team and company, “We are very proud that Joe has found Jackson Kayak worthy of his time, energy and commitment,” Jackson said. “Everyone in the industry loves to work with Joe. He knows the business and has a lot of integrity plus he’s great fun and a great boater.”

Pulliam and Jackson have known each other for years but Pulliam, who has been a consultant for the past four years, said three key factors drew him to working exclusively with Jackson: the size of the company, that it’s family-owned rather than corporately owned, and that whitewater, still a big passion for Pulliam, is more than “just a sideline image piece.”

“Being part of Jackson Kayak reminds me of my Dagger days except I get to work from home now,” Pulliam said. “This company has a lot of potential.”

Pulliam got his start in the paddlesports industry in 1982 as marketing director for Perception, Inc. Six years later, he left to co-found Dagger. Ten years later, Dagger merged with Perception to form Watermark Paddlesports. In 2005, Confluence Watersports acquired Watermark’s paddlesports division brands, including Dagger.

During the course of his career, Pulliam has given back to the paddlesports industry through membership on the boards of paddlesports trade associations, the American Canoe Association and American Whitewater. He also served on the 1996 Olympic Whitewater Marketing Committee as well as myriad local and regional business and river-oriented non-profits.

Founded in 2004, family-owned and operated Jackson Kayak is the leading manufacturer of whitewater kayaks. For further details about the complete line of Jackson Kayak whitewater and recreational boats, visit JacksonKayak.com.