Dave Schneider is Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer of Red Wing Shoe Company, the family-owned, Minnesota-based maker of iconic American work boots founded in 1905. He leads the company's global marketing practice, spanning brand management, digital and traditional communications, ecommerce, retail experience, brand protection, and corporate communications, reporting directly to the CEO. After years in senior roles at leading agencies including Digitas, Tribal DDB, and BBDO, he brought an agency creative sensibility to an operator's job, championing a marketing model that balances long-term brand equity with performance-driven revenue while putting the skilled-trades workers who wear the boots at the center of the brand's story.
Krista Dalton is Chief Marketing and Digital Officer at Tecovas, the Austin-based western wear brand built on handmade cowboy boots that has grown into a lifestyle label with more than 50 US stores. She spent nine years at Target, where she moved from allocating plus-size and maternity apparel to becoming the first person the company shifted from stores to Target.com in 2013, then seven years at Overstock.com (now Beyond Inc), ending as Chief Customer and Merchandising Officer with a team of over 1,300 and an $800M-plus P&L. At Tecovas she has pushed the brand into work boots and women's workwear, run TV blackout tests to prove what awareness actually buys, sent her team into customers' closets, and built a custom AI agent to chew through the roughly 16 reports she used to read by hand. Footwear News named her to its Women Who Rock class of 2026, where she argued that authenticity is the new competitive advantage.
Ariat International is a Union City, California footwear and apparel company founded in 1993 that applied athletic-shoe technology to riding boots and grew into the world's largest equestrian sports brand. Today it designs performance boots, western wear, workwear and flame-resistant gear for riders, ranchers, tradespeople and outdoor enthusiasts, sold globally through retailers and direct-to-consumer channels.
KEEN is a privately held American outdoor footwear and accessories brand founded in 2003 and headquartered in Portland, Oregon. Best known for the toe-protecting Newport hybrid sandal, KEEN designs hiking boots, sandals, casual shoes and safety work footwear (KEEN Utility) that blend outdoor performance with a durability-first, low-impact ethos it calls 'Consciously Created.' The company has been PFAS-free since 2018, uses recycled and agricultural-waste materials, manufactures part of its line in the U.S., and channels giving through The KEEN Effect. It sells direct-to-consumer online and through retail partners worldwide.
Red Wing Shoe Company is a family-owned American footwear manufacturer founded in 1905 in Red Wing, Minnesota. It builds durable work boots, safety footwear and heritage lifestyle shoes - anchored by icons like the Moc Toe and Iron Ranger - and operates its own leather tannery, hundreds of retail stores and a global dealer network. Now in its fourth generation of family leadership, Red Wing pairs old-world craft with modern safety technology for tradespeople, industrial workers and boot enthusiasts worldwide.
Timberland is an American outdoor footwear and apparel company best known for its waterproof yellow boot, introduced in 1973. Founded on the shoemaking work of Nathan Swartz and his Abington Shoe Company, the brand grew from rugged workwear into a cultural staple embraced by hip-hop and streetwear before becoming a global lifestyle label. Now a VF Corporation brand headquartered in Stratham, New Hampshire, Timberland sells boots, sneakers, apparel and accessories through retail, e-commerce and direct-to-consumer channels, while pursuing circular design goals through its Timberloop take-back program.
Twisted X Global Brands is a Decatur, Texas-based footwear company that designs and manufactures comfortable, handcrafted western, work, casual and outdoor shoes and boots for men, women and children. Known for its patented CellStretch comfort technology and its ecoTWX fabric made from recycled plastic bottles, Twisted X pairs all-day comfort with a sustainability mission that made it one of the first carbon-neutral footwear companies. Under CEO Prasad Reddy, the company turned around from near-bankruptcy in 2009 into a fast-growing brand family that includes Twisted X, Twisted X Work, Black Star Boots, CellSole and licensed Wrangler Footwear.
Scott Schoessel is the Chief Marketing Officer of Wolverine Worldwide's Work Group, the division behind Wolverine, Cat, Harley-Davidson, Bates and Hytest work footwear. He joined the Rockford, Michigan company in 2020 as director of digital and retail marketing, rose to VP of global marketing for the Wolverine, Bates and Hytest brands in 2022, and now runs marketing across the entire work portfolio. Before Wolverine he built a career across Limited Brands, Bluedog Design, Gigunda Group, Gatorade and Kellogg's. He is known for pulling historically siloed brands closer together and for landing Wolverine's first television product placement deal, putting its boots on the Paramount+ series Landman.
Wolverine Worldwide is a Rockford, Michigan-based footwear and apparel company that designs, markets and licenses a portfolio of global brands including Merrell, Saucony, Wolverine, Hush Puppies, Cat Footwear, Chaco, Bates, Harley-Davidson Footwear, HYTEST and Sweaty Betty. Founded in 1883 as a leather tannery and shoe maker, the company today sells performance, work, casual and lifestyle footwear and apparel to consumers in roughly 170 countries through wholesale, e-commerce and direct-to-consumer channels, generating about $1.87 billion in fiscal 2025 revenue.
Work 'N Gear is a U.S. specialty retailer of workwear, work footwear and healthcare apparel, based in Quincy, Massachusetts. For more than three decades it has outfitted blue-collar and medical workers with trusted brands like Carhartt, Dickies, Timberland PRO and Cherokee across a chain of brick-and-mortar stores in the Northeast and Midwest plus a growing e-commerce and B2B business. The company is also known for its 'Boot Trade' program, which redistributes thousands of pairs of gently used work boots to people in need each winter.