Management Team

GreatOutdoors.com has carefully selected a sophisticated and dynamic team that is well-equipped to serve people's outdoor and active travel lifestyle needs. Our team has extensive experience in the Internet, travel, and retail fields.

Mike Morford - Chief Executive Officer

Mike Morford is the founder and CEO of Altrec.com Outdoors (www.altrec.com). Morford founded Altrec.com in 1997, raised both individual and institutional investment capital and acquired several companies in the process, including Greatoutdoors.com (www.greatoutdoors.com). He led the company through the initial exuberance of the dot-com market, the dot-com crash, and the recovery to its current success. He continues to lead this mid-market company with strong growth.

Prior to starting Altrec.com, Morford founded and served as CEO for Joppa.com, Inc., an e-commerce incubator dedicated to designing and developing e-commerce companies. His previous experience included business development for Cofano Venture System and prior to that management with United Parcel Service (UPS). Morford holds a B.A. in business administration from Seattle Pacific University.

Morford also serves on the Board of Mercent Corporation (www.mercent.com), a Madrona and TVC Capital backed software services company with world-class clients such as Nordstrom, Guess, 1800Flowers.com, Cutter & Buck, Car Toys, and many others. Morford served for 5 years as the Finance Chairman for Cascade Community Church (www.cascadechurch.org) and as an informal advisor to Northshore Baptist Church (www.nsb.org). Mike, and his wife Katie, moved to Central Oregon in the fall of 2006 along with the majority of the company.

Peter Potterfield - GreatOutdoors.com Editor

Peter Potterfield is the author of a dozen books, including the critically acclaimed In the Zone (The Mountaineers Books, 1996), and the Banff Book Festival Award winner, High Himalaya (The Mountaineers Books, 2001). His most recent books are Classic Hikes of the World (WW Norton & Co., 2005), Himalayan Quest (National Geographic Books, 2003) and Everest, the Anthology, a collection of first-hand narratives from the world's highest peak (The Mountaineers Books, 2003). Potterfield has made a specialty of covering mountaineering and backcountry adventure for the popular press, and he has written on these subjects for National Geographic Adventure, Conde Nast Traveler, Outside, Reader's Digest, Backpacker, Modern Maturity, Summit, Smithsonian Air & Space, and other publications. As editor of MountainZone.com from 1996 to 2003, he developed electronic adventure journalism by pioneering live reporting of Mount Everest expeditions and other real-time adventure stories from remote locations.

Janet Mathews - Chief Financial Officer

Mathews brings extensive start up, retail, industry relevant, ecommerce and executive level leadership to the team.   Mathew's role as CFO for Gaiam Inc. involved moving the company from its early stages to its current scale including over twenty five M&A transactions and the completion of an IPO, and several follow-on public offerings and PIPE transactions.  She also completed an IPO for Seventh Generation, Inc., a manufacturer and distributor of environmentally-friendly consumer products.  Her experience crosses a full spectrum from driving direct sales, launching consumer e-commerce channel, opening SOX compliance, direct catalog and GAAP accounting for several companies in the direct to consumer/ health and fitness category.  She holds a B.S.B.A. in Accounting from the Univ. of Nevada, and she is Six Sigma Certified.

Blaine Donnelson - Creative Director

Blaine Donnelson, co-founder, brings to Altrec.com extensive web design experience from another company he co-founded in 1990 called Edge Design, Inc. As co-founder and President of Edge Design, he spent seven years absorbing every aspect of print design, web design and, over time, the culmination between commercial marketing and advanced-technology networking, now known as the Internet. His clientele include Fine.com interactive, Microsoft, Webnet-marketing, Puget Sound Media, Microserv and M&M Data Systems. Donnelson's comprehensive understanding of Internet marketing and print development allows for quick and responsive action to the many challenges of conducting business on the world wide web. He holds a B.A. in Graphic Design from Western Washington University.

Jim Helmich - VP of HR, CS & DC

Jim Helmich brings a wealth of experience in HR with startups such as Altrec.com and NorthStar Neuroscience, a medical device company that eventually was taken public. His wealth of experience includes roles as HR Director/Mgr for MSN.com & Corporate Recruiter for Starbucks. Helmich holds a B.A. in Religions Studies from Seattle Pacific University and an M.A. in Religion/Theology from Seattle University.

Tom Holt - Director of Merchandising

Tom Holt has come to Altrec.com, having worked for retailers: Recreational Equipment Incorporated (REI), Macy's, May Department Stores Int'l and The Limited Corporation during his nearly twenty years in the industry. His responsibilities have included strategic merchandise and financial planning, private brand development/sourcing, pricing and promotional planning. Tom holds a B.A. in Apparel, Merchandising and Textiles (business/marketing emphasis) from Washington State University.

John Byrne - Director of Finance

John Byrne is responsible for the accounting, administrative, and human resources functions of the company. Prior to joining Altrec.com John spent seven years as the CFO for a non-profit organization. He has also held the positions of Corporate Accounting Manager for Red Lion Hotels & Inns and Financial Analyst for Multnomah Publishers. John holds a B.S. degree in Accounting from BIOLA University in southern California. When not at work John enjoys spending time in the outdoors with his family. His favorite activities include camping and snow skiing, but he also enjoys hiking, bicycling, and water sports.