Management Team / Advisory Board Bios
Gill Hong
Chief Executive Officer and Board Member
With over 20 years of experience in the fitness, sports and apparel industries (including Oakley, Gap Inc., Speedo, L.L. Bean, Lands’ End and a 14-year tenure at Nike in both Global and Regional key leadership roles), Gill brings both a wealth of experience and a powerful strategic vision to Thirty Three Threads. She is a brand builder, growth visionary, and true leader in the women’s and men’s athleisure, clothing and accessory sectors. Her ability to define a global product vision that leverages trends while adapting to market conditions has repeatedly delivered profitability. As a global business leader with an unparalleled depth of experience in the challenges and opportunities of the apparel industry, Gill is uniquely positioned to help take Thirty Three Threads to its next stage of expansion. Prior to joining Thirty Three Threads Gill held the position of EVP Chief Merchandising Officer and Head of International for Lands’ End PLC, an American Women’s, Men’s, Kids clothing, footwear, accessory and home décor direct to consumer retailer.
Joe Patterson
Chairman
In 2004, Joe and his wife, Christina, founded the Company in their garage and began to develop the ToeSox brand, its product and essentially created the fitness grip-sock industry. Joe led the Company as CEO until November 2019, during which time the company became one of the leaders in grip sock industry with numerous patents and technologies that he personally developed. Joe currently provides company oversight as Chairman of the Board. Joe started his career as a sales rep for GAF, the largest manufacturer of Roofing technology in the US with over $3 Billion in annual revenue. Joe held the position of Regional Sales Manager for 7 years. Joe received his Bachelor of Sciences degree in Biology from San Diego State University in 1994.
Barry Buchholtz
President and CFO
Barry has had over 30 years of executive experience in various industries including consumer electronics, eyewear, and luxury goods. He has held executive positions with Kaypro (KMG). (VP Operations), Professional Technologies (COO), Vision Technologies (COO), Spy Optic (President and CEO), where he took the company public, and Chrome Hearts Eyewear (General Manager). Barry joined Thirty Three Threads on a consulting basis in 2011 and full time in 2013.
Matt Weaber
Vice President North American Sales
Matt Weaber joined Thirty Three Threads in 2016 and is currently the VP of Sales. Matt works closely with the President and CEO to drive domestic sales, and optimize wholesale distribution and expansion into adjacent markets. Matt was the Global Director of Sales at prAna from 2001 – 2016, when the company’s global wholesale business grew from $3M to greater than $85M. During this time, Matt also consulted with brands in industries including outdoor, sporting goods, active apparel, and home goods. This work was primarily focused on sales strategy, organizational go-to-market plans, team structure, online strategy, and omni-channel optimization. Matt has also acted as an advisor to buying groups such as Grassroots Outdoor Alliance. Matt earned a bachelor’s degree in Business Management in 2001. Matt Weaber has an at will employment agreement with the Company with both base salary and bonus based on achieving revenue targets.
Valerie Hudson
VP Product
Valerie joined the Company in 2019. She was previously the VP of Product for Pure Barre, where she grew their private label business with a strong focus on grip socks. Prior to Pure Barre, she was the Global Merchandising Director for Oakley where she led cross-functional product teams from seasonal briefing to product sell-in for all performance activewear categories. She has over 18 years of merchandising experience with world-class companies (Nike, Lululemon, Nordstrom) and a history of growing product categories in competitive environments.
Brenda McBarron
VP Finance
Brenda is a California CPA with over 30 years of experience in accounting, auditing and financial analysis. Before joining the Company, she was a senior financial analyst with an international renewable energy company. She started her career at PWC then spent several years as an audit manager at a regional CPA firm. She has also worked as an accounting manager/controller in the finance and manufacturing sectors.
Julie DeAnda
Creative Director
Julie DeAnda's career includes design, technical design, product development, collection merchandising, global sourcing and production in the USA, Asia and European territories. She has been involved with some of the most influential apparel, accessory and footwear brands in several fashion markets and has worked side by side with the most influential visionaries, artisans and talented tastemakers in the fashion industry. Julie DeAnda joined Thirty Three Threads in 2012 as a consultant. Since then she has been committed to bringing innovative designs and technologies to merge the vision and brand strategy for the brands by designing, developing and executing complete collections with an intentional focus on bringing a luxurious quality and compilation of aspirational designs merchandising unexpected and exceptional raw materials to the premium markets. In 2017, Julie became the Company’s Director of Product with the intention of continuing with progressive and innovative designs and newly, product development management, sourcing new raw material technologies and chain supply procurement while leading the product teams toward achieving the Company's next milestones and goals.
Gregory Seare
Director and Chair of Compensation Committee
Greg is the co-founder and managing director of Black Oak Capital. In this role, he leads overall strategy formulation and fundraising while overseeing deal sourcing, due diligence, and new investments. Black Oak has invested over $100 million in senior debt, mezzanine debt, and preferred equity financings. Prior to Black Oak, Greg was a founder and managing director at Seare Marriott & Co, a middle-market investment banking firm with offices in Salt Lake City, Utah, and Richmond, Virginia. Previously, Greg worked at BB&T and Virginia Capital Markets in Richmond, Virginia where he had over $2 billion of transaction experience spanning multiple industries. Greg received an MBA and MPP from William & Mary (where he was a Jefferson Fellow) and a BS in Political Science from the University of Utah. Mr. Seare was an active Scout Leader for more than a decade and serves as a board member for the Guadalupe Charter School.
DeeDee Wilson
Director and Chair of Audit Committee
DeeDee Wilson started her career as a CPA with Price Waterhouse. DeeDee then joined the Coca-Cola Company before being recruited to Nike. During her 13 years there, she served in various roles, including Chief Internal Auditor, Head of Global Financial Planning, and VP/CFO of Nike’s two largest divisions (EMEA and USA). DeeDee was a charter member of Nike’s Women’s Leadership Council, where she started a program for emerging female executives. After being named one of CFO magazine’s “Top 25 women CFOs to Watch in 2008,” DeeDee left Nike to become CFO of private-equity backed, fashion retailer, Aritzia. She then completed several assignments in senior finance roles at multinational consumer goods companies before focusing her attention in the nonprofit space, where she is currently EVP, Finance & Administration at a large national non-profit. She is an investor and board advisor in two start-up socially responsible enterprises and has held several nonprofit board seats.
Brian Woods
COO
Brian is a successful Global COO and branded business leader with compelling experiences at Fox Racing Oakley, Reebok and Adidas. He spent several years as an Expat in Asia building highly efficient global supply chain and manufacturing systems. Experienced with revenues ranging from $300M to well over $5 billion Brian is a seasoned business leader in both the private and public sector. His exceptional ability to drive innovation, grow revenue and EBITDA to create both shareholder and stakeholder value is of immense worth to Thirty Three Threads as they embark on their next chapter of growth. Prior to joining Thirty Three Threads Brian held the position of Chief Operating Officer with Fox Racing. He also served as President of ProStairs Fitness from March 1, 2020 through October 1, 2020, and currently serves as a member of the Board of Advisors.
