Over the last few weeks we’ve been highlighting members of our Board of Directors who are seeking re-election, or will be continuing their current term after the 2018 election this October 12th. If you are a current AFFTA member and want to join other industry leaders in shaping the future of fly fishing for generations to come, consider running for the AFFTA Board. Submit your bio before Friday, September 21st. All details can be found here.
Tag Kleiner is the Vice President of Marketing for Far Bank Enterprises, the holding company for Sage Fly Fishing, Redington, and RIO Products. Tag joined Far Bank in 2014, after almost 20 years at Smith Optics, the last decade as the Global Director of Marketing. Tag was born and raised in Colorado, spent 3 years at Davidson College in North Carolina before graduating from CU. Chasing time on the water and time on the snow led to a career in the outdoor industry, where Tag enjoys the people, the passion, and sharing/protecting the outdoors.
Tag lives on Bainbridge Island, WA with his kids Holden and Hazel, a 3-legged dog, and a long-haired hamster. He’s finishing year number one of his three year term and looks forward to being a part of what AFFTA does in the near future.
Why is AFFTA Board service important to you (personally and professionally)?
For me, being elected to the AFFTA BOD was an honor. It’s an opportunity for me to give back to a community that has done so much for me and my career…both the joys of an outdoor life and the joys of business challenges. The fly fishing community is made up of passionate individuals that care deeply about what we do and where we get to do it, and the opportunity to help steer the fly fishing market to even more successes is a privilege that I don’t take lightly.
What work are we doing as an organization that gets you excited?
I think that industry relationships and business intelligence are key aspects of what AFFTA should bring to the table for the fly fishing industry, and the Dealer Summit platform that AFFTA has been running for the last couple years specifically hits those goals. Not only has AFFTA provided incredible speakers to bring new ideas to the specialty fly shop, we’ve provided a great platform for individual fly shops to share their success stories with their peers so all shops can be stronger businesses with increased consumer engagement. There are a ton of intelligent, engaged people in our industry, and AFFTA’s efforts to connect those people and their ideas has been very rewarding.