Tim Boyle (businessman)

Last updated

Timothy Boyle
Born1949 (age 74–75)
Portland, Oregon, US
Education Jesuit High School
Alma mater University of Oregon
OccupationBusinessman
TitlePresident and CEO, Columbia Sportswear
Term1988-
SpouseMary Boyle
Children2
Parent(s) Gert Lammfromm Boyle
Joseph Cornelius "Neal" Boyle

Timothy P. Boyle [1] (born 1949) is an American billionaire, and the president and CEO of Columbia Sportswear. [2]

Contents

According to Forbes, his estimated net worth was US$2.0 billion in November 2022. [3]

Early life

Boyle was born and raised in Portland, Oregon. [4] He is one of three children of Joseph Cornelius "Neal" Boyle, an Irish Catholic, and Gertrude Lammfromm. [5] His mother was Jewish and fled as a teenager from Nazi Germany. She immigrated to Portland, Oregon, [6] and converted to Catholicism after marriage. [6] He has two sisters. [5]

His grandfather purchased the Rosenfeld Hat Company [5] and changed its name to the Columbia Hat Company [7] (after the river). [5] His father became president of Columbia Hat after his grandfather died and then diversified the hat business into outerwear [5] for hunters, fishermen, and skiers. [6] In 1960, his mother designed the first fishing vest (his father was an avid fisherman) and the name of the company was changed to Columbia Sportswear. [7]

Boyle was educated at Jesuit High School, in Beaverton, Oregon, just outside Portland, followed by the University of Oregon, where he earned a bachelor's degree in journalism in 1971. [8]

Career

Boyle was still at university when his father died in 1970 [9] at the age of 47. He left to join his mother, who had become president of Columbia Hat, which was then earning $800,000 in annual sales and had 40 employees. [5] The company struggled and teetered on bankruptcy [10] until in the 1970s when Boyle and his mother refocused the business on outdoor clothing and casual wear which paralleled a general trend away from formal work attire. [11] In 1975, they were the first company to introduce Gore-Tex parkas. [7]

In 1986, Columbia released the Bugaboo, a jacket with a zip out lining which became quite trendy and further propelled the company's growth. [5] Columbia was unique among specialty clothing manufacturers in that it would sell its products to any retail shop or chain. [6] In 1987, Columbia had $18.8 million in sales and by 1997 it had grown to $353.5 million. [6] Boyle took over from his mother, Gert, as company president in 1988. [12] [13]

The company went public in 1998. [11] In the early 2010s, Boyle refocused Columbia away from top line products and more towards the mid-range, moderately priced products; he also continued to align sales with changes happening in the retail industry, shifting the company more toward internet sales. [2]

Columbia grew into a $6.5bn public company, [14] and Boyle's 41% ownership interest in Columbia Sportswear was worth over $1.0 billion in 2013. [2]

In 2020, Forbes ranked Boyle No. 378 on the Forbes 400 list of the richest people in America. [15]

Personal life

Boyle and his wife Mary have a son, educated at Drake University in Des Moines, and a daughter, educated at the University of Washington. [16] They live in Portland, Oregon. [3]

In 2007, he and his wife Mary donated $5 million to the University of Oregon. [17] In 2016, he donated $10 million to the university's aquatic animal care facility. [18] More recently the couple donated $10 million towards a biomedical data science initiative. [19] In 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Boyle reduced his own salary to $10,000 while maintaining the full salary and benefits of all his company's retail employees. [20]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phil Knight</span> American billionaire business magnate (born 1938)

Philip Hampson Knight is an American billionaire businessman and philanthropist who is the co-founder and chairman emeritus of Nike, Inc., a global sports equipment and apparel company. He was previously its chairman and CEO. As of December 2023, Forbes estimated his net worth at $45.0 billion. He is also the owner of the stop motion film production company Laika. Knight is a graduate of the University of Oregon and the Stanford Graduate School of Business. He was part of the track and field club under coach Bill Bowerman at the University of Oregon with whom he would later co-found Nike.

Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) is a public research university focusing primarily on health sciences with a main campus, including two hospitals, in Portland, Oregon. The institution was founded in 1887 as the University of Oregon Medical Department and later became the University of Oregon Medical School. In 1974, the campus became an independent, self-governed institution called the University of Oregon Health Sciences Center, combining state dentistry, medicine, nursing, and public health programs into a single center. It was renamed Oregon Health Sciences University in 1981 and took its current name in 2001, as part of a merger with the Oregon Graduate Institute (OGI), in Hillsboro. The university has several partnership programs including a joint PharmD Pharmacy program with Oregon State University in Corvallis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Columbia Sportswear</span> American company that manufactures and distributes outerwear and sportswear

The Columbia Sportswear Company is an American company that manufactures and distributes outerwear, sportswear, and footwear, as well as headgear, camping equipment, ski apparel, and outerwear accessories.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grant High School (Portland, Oregon)</span> Public school in Portland, , Oregon, United States

Grant High School is a public high school in the Grant Park neighborhood of Portland, Oregon, United States. Grant serves inner and central Northeast Portland and southeastern North Portland. It is the second largest high school in the Portland Public School District, behind Franklin High School.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oregon Symphony</span> Orchestra based in Portland, Oregon, U.S.

The Oregon Symphony is an American symphony orchestra based in Portland, Oregon, United States. Founded as the "Portland Symphony Society" in 1896, it is the sixth oldest orchestra in the United States, and oldest in the Western United States. Its home venue is the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall in downtown Portland's Cultural District.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gert Boyle</span> German-American businesswoman

Gertrude Boyle was a German-born American businesswoman in the U.S. state of Oregon. After her family fled Nazi Germany, her father founded the business that became Columbia Sportswear, where in 1970, she became company president. She remained president until 1988 and additionally, was chairwoman of the company's board of directors from 1983 until her death in 2019. Starting in the 1980s, she appeared in a series of advertisements for Columbia Sportswear with her son, Timothy Boyle, often humorously testing the quality and durability of their products. She was also a philanthropist and memoirist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert B. Pamplin Jr.</span> American businessman

Robert Boisseau Pamplin Jr. is an American businessman, philanthropist, and minister. He is also noted as an educator, historic preservationist and author.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">G.I. Joe's</span>

G.I. Joe's was a privately owned retail chain for sporting goods, ready-to-wear clothing, and auto parts; that operated stores in the Pacific Northwest region of the northwestern United States.

Les Schwab Tire Centers is a tire retail chain operating in the western United States. Founded in 1952, the company is named for founder Les Schwab and is headquartered in the Central Oregon city of Bend. The private company employs over 7,000 people in nine western states.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bob's Red Mill</span> Brand of whole-grain foods

Bob's Red Mill is an American brand of whole-grain food marketed by employee-owned American company Bob's Red Mill Natural Foods of Milwaukie, Oregon. The company was established in 1978 by Bob and Charlee Moore.

The New Venture Championship (NVC) is an international entrepreneurial investment competition for graduate students presented by the University of Oregon's Lundquist Center for Entrepreneurship.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nike, Inc.</span> American athletic equipment company

Nike, Inc. is an American athletic footwear and apparel corporation headquartered near Beaverton, Oregon, United States. It is the world's largest supplier of athletic shoes and apparel and a major manufacturer of sports equipment, with revenue in excess of US$46 billion in its fiscal year 2022.

Norm Thompson Outfitters was a privately owned catalog and internet retailer based in Middleton, Massachusetts that was previously based in Hillsboro, Oregon, United States until September 2016. The Norm Thompson offices were closed and consolidated due to Bluestem's acquisition of their parent company, Orchard Brands, in July 2015. Founded in 1949 by Norman A. (Norm) Thompson as a mail order business, it grew to annual sales of $200 million before it was sold to Golden Gate Capital Partners in 2006. The company sells clothing, gadgets, furniture, kitchen items, and gift items from its namesake catalog as well as from its Solutions and Sahalie brands. John Difrancesco serves as president and chief executive of the 500 employee company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ted Wheeler</span> American politician (born 1962)

Edward Tevis Wheeler is an American politician who has served as the mayor of Portland, Oregon since 2017. He was Oregon State Treasurer from 2010 to 2016.

Electro Scientific Industries, Inc. (ESI) is an American high technology company headquartered in the Portland, Oregon, metropolitan area, specifically in Beaverton, Oregon, since 2021, but from 1963–2021, it was based in the unincorporated Cedar Mill area just north of Beaverton. ESI is a developer and supplier of photonic and laser systems for microelectronics manufacturers. Founded in 1944, it is the oldest high-tech company in Oregon. Along with Tektronix, and later Intel, it has spawned numerous technology-based companies in the Portland area, an area known as the Silicon Forest. From 1983 to 2019, shares in the company were publicly traded on NASDAQ, under the ticker symbol ESIO.

White Stag is an in-store brand of women's clothing and accessories sold by Walmart. Founded as a skiwear manufacturer in Portland, Oregon, the company was purchased by the Warnaco Group in 1966, which in turn sold the brand to Wal-Mart in 2003.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Portland Bureau of Transportation</span>

The Portland Bureau of Transportation is the largest bureau at City of Portland tasked with maintaining the city of Portland's transportation infrastructure. Bureau staff plan, build, manage, and maintain a transportation system with the goal of providing people and businesses access and mobility. The Bureau received significant media coverage in 2017 for employee hazing within its maintenance operations, as well as a bribery scheme between its parking manager and Cale America that span from 2002 to 2011 for which the manager Ellis McCoy was sentenced to two years in federal prison.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oregon Venture Fund</span> Venture capital fund

Oregon Venture Fund makes venture investments in the Portland, Oregon area and throughout Oregon and SW Washington. The fund consists of 180 institutional and angel investors, of whom 85% have run or founded a business. The fund evaluates up to 300 business plans per year, selecting five to seven to invest in annually. In 2018, the fund changed its name from Oregon Angel Fund to Oregon Venture Fund and launched a new $30M fund. Since its inception, Oregon Venture Fund has generated an average annual rate of return of 34% and a return on investment exceeding $3.50 for each dollar invested.

The OHSU Knight Cancer Institute is a research institute within Oregon Health & Science University. The National Cancer Institute (NCI) designated cancer center is led by director Brian Druker. It is the only NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center in the state of Oregon. The institute is named after Phil Knight and his wife, who donated over $600 million to the center; $100 million in 2008 and $500 million in 2013. The $500 million gift required a matching $500 million, which led to a $100 million donation by Columbia Sportswear chairwoman Gert Boyle in 2014.

Hildegard Lamfrom was a German-American molecular biologist/biochemist. She helped develop one of the first in-vitro translation systems, using rabbit reticulocyte lysate to study protein synthesis in a cell-free context. This allowed her to make a number of contributions to the field including providing some of the first direct evidence for the existence of messenger RNA (mRNA) as a protein template, as well as the existence of polyribosomes.

References

  1. ↑ "Tim Boyle, Columbia Sportswear Co: Profile and Biography". Bloomberg Markets . Archived from the original on November 1, 2022. Retrieved October 31, 2022.
  2. 1 2 3 Forbes: "Columbia Sportswear Thrives, Lifting CEO Tim Boyle To Billionaire Ranks" by Kathryn Dill November 8, 2013
  3. 1 2 "Forbes profile: Timothy Boyle". Forbes. Retrieved November 4, 2021.
  4. ↑ "Columbia Sportswear CEO Tim Boyle Buys Gearhart Golf Links". The A Position. Retrieved November 5, 2019.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Whitford, David; Gert Boyle (September 1, 2003). "Gert Boyle Columbia Sportswear Co". Fortune Small Business. Retrieved November 10, 2013.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 Immigrant Entrepreneurship: "Gertrude Boyle" retrieved November 9, 2013
  7. 1 2 3 "History". About Us. Columbia Sportswear. Archived from the original on November 9, 2013. Retrieved November 10, 2013.
  8. ↑ "Columbia:Officers and Directors". Columbia. Retrieved December 4, 2017.
  9. ↑ Oregon Business: "Tim Boyle charts the future as Columbia Sportswear turns 75" by Linda Baker January 28, 2013
  10. ↑ Harriet Shapiro; Diane S. Lund (September 18, 1989). "Gert Boyle Has a Vested Interest in George Bush's Fishing Fortunes". People . Archived from the original on November 9, 2013. Retrieved November 9, 2013.
  11. 1 2 Boyle, Gert (April 1, 2006). "How I Did It: Gert Boyle, chairman, Columbia Sportswear". Inc. magazine. Retrieved November 9, 2013.
  12. ↑ Oregonian/OregonLive, Steve Duin | For The (November 3, 2019). "Gert Boyle, 'One Tough Mother' who led Columbia Sportswear, dies at 95". oregonlive. Retrieved April 29, 2020.
  13. ↑ Palmieri, Jean E. (January 27, 2020). "Tim Boyle Named Chairman of Columbia Sportswear". WWD. Retrieved April 29, 2020.
  14. ↑ Read, Richard (November 29, 2018). "Tim Boyle of Columbia Sportswear on US immigration policy: 'I think it's just a travesty what's happening'". www.ft.com. Retrieved April 28, 2020.
  15. ↑ "The Forbes 400 2020: The Richest People in America". www.forbes.com. Retrieved September 25, 2020.
  16. ↑ "Tim Boyle: CEO Columbia Sportswear". Portland Interview Magazine. October 2, 2012. Retrieved December 4, 2017.
  17. ↑ Business Wire: "Columbia Sportswear Tim Boyle, Wife Donate $5 Million to University of Oregon" April 13, 2007
  18. ↑ Katu: "Columbia Sportswear CEO donates $10 million to University of Oregon" February 28, 2016
  19. ↑ "Couple gives $10 million to support biomedical data science". Around the O. June 18, 2019. Retrieved November 6, 2019.
  20. ↑ Oregonian/OregonLive, Samantha Swindler | The; Oregonian/OregonLive, Jeff Manning | The (March 28, 2020). "Columbia Sportswear CEO Tim Boyle cuts own salary to $10K, retail employees receive regular pay". oregonlive. Retrieved March 29, 2020.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.