Bike

Outdoor

Skate

Snow

Streetwear

Surf

Triathlon

Wake

Category Director

Sportswear industry experience with material development and footwear operations. Sales and marketing background utilizing relationship-building skills. Sourcing experience overseas including; Taiwan, Vietnam, China and South Korea utilizing interpersonal skills with other cultures. Responsible for setting category direction and sales targets for a team of 15+ people.

Well-rounded academic background; Economics and Studio Art undergraduate degree. Competitive collegiate athlete in Cross Country/ Track and Field

•	Accountable for developing and procuring a portfolio of materials for a customer base including: Nike Inc., Columbia Sportswear, New Balance, Puma, JR286 and Dakine 
•	Currently navigate international manufacturing procedures, timelines, duty and tariff structures
•	Continuously establish best practices for material manufacturing within a start-up environment
•	Responsible for approving category expenditures for development and production
•	Lead the ERP and SOP implementation process overseas
•	Direct a bi-annual seasonal material range based on market trend direction and category needs
•	Develop large-scale projects by forming professional partnerships, assessing risk, proposing and initiating processes, undergoing rigorous material testing phases, and introducing vetted materials to market 
•	Consistently perform all Technical Project Manager skills and responsibilities in current role


•	Responsible for leading sales and marketing of a range of 2000 different materials
•	Defined scope of multiple projects simultaneously while prioritizing timelines and providing development solutions
•	Developed and instructed an educational course to Nike employees that presented a specialized manufacturing process  
•	Followed stringent 6-month timeline to create material catalogs in collaboration with marketing manager, designers, manufacturing vendors, costing team, and material developers
•	Lived abroad in Asia to develop a foundation of intercultural communication and technical skills
•	Compiled project data and customer insights to forecast annual sales projections 
•	Identified key information in weekly tracking report to manage project status and maintain clear communication between project team members 

Technical Project Manager

•	Managed Footwear product line information in master database
•	Collaborated with multiple departments to seek out and provide accurate and detailed updates to the product line including but not limited to: 
•	Masterfile data, critical sourcing, planning information, product specifications, pricing, product intro dates, product categories and seasonal calendar timelines 
•	Built strong relationships through interprofessional communication with other departments including: Sales, Demand Planning, Production and Capacity Planning, Finance, IT, Supply Chain Management and other departments with “touch points” to database functionality
•	Improved reporting from PDM by utilizing contacts in finance to generate excel reports based on V-Lookups

Footwear Operations Coordinator

•	Coordinated flow of material orders and inventory management with hundreds of raw materials
•	Balanced multiple responsibilities within a time-sensitive environment
•	Cooperated with a team of designers and textile programmers to develop Nike FlyKnit technology from inception 
•	Communicated with vendors in Asia regarding material development and material orders
•	Designed and modified custom reports in Excel for material testing data with designers, engineers and directors
•	Generated reports from testing lab data with up to 25 conditions

Materials Research Assistant

Find out detailed information about Ian Batch, Category Director in Portland, OR

Ian Batch: Category Director in Portland, OR

Ian Batch

Matmarket

Matmarket

Columbia Sportswear, Inc.

Nike, Inc.

Willamette University