Beth Cross
Beth Cross is a team captain, a team builder, a head cheerleader, and above all, a really great teammate. When asked if she considers herself the only founder of Ariat (now an estimated $1 billion-plus global business spanning western, equestrian, outdoor, and work categories from head-to-toe in men’s, women’s, and kid’s), she’s quick to say she is just one of the many people who have been instrumental in building the San Leandro, CA-based company one thoroughly researched, vetted, and smartly executed business plan at a time.
“I have played a specific position on our team”, Cross says, “which is often not even the most important position on any given day. We have so many great coaches and players all playing their critical roles every day. We share wins and losses, and we move through it all together. This team’s incredible commitment and hard work allow us to support each other as we build this great company together.”
Cross is a believer that the power of each individual is amplified by the magic of working together as a team. When a senior leader refers to the people in their department as “my” team, her immediate reaction is to remind them we all work on one team, and individuals are each important contributors and “don’t belong to any one person,” she says.
Bruce Kaplan, who served as a sales manager for Ariat for 13 years, described the culture as the most collaborative of any he’s been part of during his 30-year-plus footwear career. “From the top through every part of the organization downstream, everyone truly rows in the same direction,” says the now executive vice president at Ara NA. “Part of that comes from hiring great people and then trusting them to do their jobs at the highest level without asking for much in return.” Kaplan adds that entrepreneurial thinking is always encouraged. “If you have an idea, are passionate about it, and show potential results, you simply activate. This created an atmosphere of free thinking.”
Selby Hansen, vice president of sales of Ariat’s independent division and 20-year company veteran, says employees feel valued and appreciated by the top executives as much as their peers. “She’s the epitome of the saying, ‘leaders go first’ by showcasing a quiet yet bold and competitive spirit in her leadership style that makes people want to follow her,” he says. “Her consistency over time continues to prove that the culture is not manufactured or inauthentic. She’s real and genuine in every interaction.”
Cross’s team-oriented approach to business took root when she was growing up on a farm in eastern Pennsylvania as one of eight siblings. She was also a three-sport high school athlete, playing field hockey, basketball, and lacrosse. Cross loved the camaraderie and the competition of team sports. “It’s the fun you have at practice, on the bus, on the field. It’s the fun you have when you win, and even when you lose,” she says. “At the end of the day, I loved being part of a team. That wiring shaped and stayed with me.”
Not surprisingly, Cross is a big fan of Ted Lasso. The series is essentially a guide to how teamwork leads to success in sport and life. Coach Lasso’s relentless optimism, a key component of his team-building philosophy, is something Cross strongly identifies with. She doesn’t consider herself an entrepreneur. Rather, she describes herself as an optimist, first and foremost, followed by being curious, resilient, a problem-solver, and forward-looking. “It’s a mindset all wrapped up into, ‘let’s do what needs to be done today and then figure out together what’s next?’” she says.
We Have Liftoff
Ariat is renowned for making performance equestrian and safety footwear—as well as killer western boots!
Ariat began taking shape over a year up to its launch in 1993. Cross, three years out of Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, and her colleague and Ariat co-founder, Pam Parker, were working for Bain and Company on a strategy project for Reebok. Working out of Bain’s San Francisco office, they worked closely with Angel Martinez, who was heading up Reebok’s LA office.
While working with the Bain team on the Reebok strategy, Cross and Parker approached Martinez with a new business idea: to put athletic shoe technology in equestrian footwear. Martinez loved the concept, but he passed as an opportunity for Reebok as their distribution channels didn’t align. Still, it’s a day Cross remembers clearly as Martinez agreed to become one of Ariat’s original investors and early board members. Over the next several years while leading Rockport, Keen, and then Deckers Brands, Martinez was an important advisor to the Ariat team and helped guide its core brand strategy. “From day one, the way he listened to our concepts and reframed them back to us gave us so much insight,” Cross says. “The early shaping of the brand and product concept was so critical, and Angel was a big part of that.”
Martinez is quick to return the compliment, praising how Cross and her team took his suggestions, consistently executed them, and made them exponentially better. “Beth is a gifted executive,” he says. “She’s extremely insightful and she listens really well. Also, she’s not driven by ego.” Martinez has been around the footwear C-suite block a few times and has seen how execs with big egos can be their own worst enemy. “Beth doesn’t have an ounce of ego in her body. She always wants to do what’s best for the brand.”
Ariat’s original plan was performance footwear for English and western riders, with the tagline, “A new breed of boot.” The company’s name itself is a play on Secretariat, whom Cross considers one of the greatest equestrian athletes of all time. “Secretariat loved to run and was intensely competitive, and I think that captures our company’s values. We’re very competitive, love what we do, and just love to win. It’s fun. Of course, we lose too, but that’s how we learn how to win the next time. It’s joyful competition.”
“The whole idea behind Ariat has always been ‘make the best product,’” Martinez says. “Beth is a champion of that. She’s just product and people committed. Shoe brands work when you’ve got great product and great people.” He adds, “Those two aspects must work together. The team has to believe in what they’re doing and the difference they’re making with the product, and that’s certainly true of Ariat.”
Cross says the focus at Ariat has always been on providing innovation, quality, and “fantastic” value to its customers. Price plays a role, but the target audience is willing to invest in quality. As such, Ariat always goes the extra mile. She believes this builds trust in the brand, and frequent feedback from consumers about product quality and durability reinforces the team’s commitment.
Cross believes the team’s continued focus on thinking long-term has been critical to the company’s success. “We took the long view from the very beginning—asking ourselves what a fully realized business could look like on a global scale,” she says. “We studied other successful footwear and apparel companies and sketched out what the company would look like at $100 million, $500 million. The training we received at Bain in strategy was incredibly helpful as we wrote the original business plan for Ariat.”
Cross believes there’s nothing mysterious about strategy. “It’s mostly about having the right frameworks to help organize your thinking,” she says, adding that the growth playbook in footwear and apparel has been written and revised many times by much larger companies. “While there’s a lot of original thinking, work, and IP in Ariat, we’ve traveled a well-worn path which we are evolving every day. The real challenge of building a business is more about product, culture, and execution, which is 100 percent dependent on the team.
Keep Dreaming
Ariat offers head-to-toe collections in the equestrian and work categories.
From day one, the Ariat team was ambitious. At the same time, Cross says everyone worked hard to obtain the many firsts required to become an established entity. “In the very early days, it’s all a matter of ‘firsts.’ Hiring our first employees, finding our first factory, opening our first warehouse, and most importantly getting that first retailer and selling that first pair,” she says. “You can have all of your long-term dreams taped on the door, but building a company requires staying focused on what you need to get done that day.”
Some might assume that being female led would be a drawback for a business in a heavily male industry. To the contrary, Cross says it initially served as a curiosity. “Many retailers booked that first appointment just to see what Ariat was all about, but with no expectations to go forward.” That’s when the real work began. “What they didn’t expect was that we’d call them another 10 times in order to get the first order,” she says. “Retailers grew to respect our perseverance. You have to be willing to work hard and be persistent to build trust with retailers.”
Eventually, Ariat won over retailers, starting with independents. Cross recalls the days of 10-pair minimum orders, and how the company would agree to split them over three shipments. “It just makes me smile now,” she says of those small orders. “But, at the same time, we were showing retailers that we were willing to earn the business. Retailers understand that. Plus, we had relentless optimism because we really believed in our product and our approach.” As a result, any bias about working with a female-founded company faded pretty quickly, she adds.
Still, Ariat ruffled some feathers. The western boot market was very traditional in the early ’90s. (A critic would see it as complacency.) Yet here came an upstart—led by two women, no less. Indeed, Ariat was a disruptor. On the advice of Martinez, Ariat introduced in-store tech reps to support the sales team, which today is Ariat’s Field Service Merchandising team. Only sneaker companies did that at the time. “It was an unlock for us in terms of working twice as hard for any given retailer,” Cross says.
One of Cross’s favorite memories of that era? Soon after they launched, an ad for a competing boot brand criticized the concept of technology in western boots. It went something like: “Carbon fiber shanks, gel footbeds…What’s next? Airbags? We make boots the old-fashioned way.” Cross saw it as the ultimate compliment. “Ariat is all about innovation—a new way of thinking or rethinking boots and now apparel,” she says. “How can we think better and bigger? What else is possible? That’s Ariat.”
A Bright Future
Ariat offers head-to-toe collections in the equestrian and work categories.
Cross is bullish on Ariat’s future growth. For starters, the team is “phenomenal,” and the core business is strong. “It’s diversified, balanced, and stable,” she says. “We have lots of growth ahead of us in our current markets. We’re also growing in our new markets, and our partnerships with retailers are powerful.”
Cross says she cannot overstress the importance of Ariat’s retail partners. Thus, the company’s continued investment in training, concept shops, and listening to retailers, whose needs are changing rapidly. “Retail is so competitive and challenging, and we have to earn our way into those businesses every day,” she says, noting that started with footwear and now spans apparel, denim, and outerwear. Once the strength of the brand is demonstrated the partnership can extend to Ariat shop-in-shops. “That’s when the partnership often transforms because we’re now both responsible for the performance of that space,” Cross explains, adding that everyone’s focus gets sharper. “We’re watching sell-in, turn, performance, margin, etc. in an exciting way, and the business just takes off. It’s a lot more fun than a couple of styles on a wall.”
Cross considers Ariat fortunate to be so firmly embedded in growing, vibrant markets. Western lifestyle has always been a trend in the U.S., and is taking off in Europe, South America, and Australia. It’s in step with country music’s growing popularity worldwide and the western lifestyle in general. “It used to be that western trended every 10 years,” she says. “But the baseline interest in western lifestyle is much higher than ever and presents room for tremendous growth.” Cross adds, “Our work business similarly is growing quickly as we design to meet the needs of younger workers and benefit from the growth in the trades in the U.S.”
Going forward, Cross says Ariat will continue to zero in on people who live their lives in boots and jeans. She describes it as a stable market and core to the Ariat identity. “We’ve been stubbornly authentic and haven’t moved into categories too far removed from our brand’s core,” she says. “We’ll continue to be boots, jeans, mid-layers, outerwear, equestrian, and accessories.” That involves growth with existing retailers as well as adding some distribution in certain categories. But adding distribution isn’t a key to growth. “We want to keep the brand clean and our partnerships strong,” Cross says. “A healthy wholesale is the foundation of our business.”
Changing of the (Daily) Guard
Last spring, Cross made the transition from CEO to Executive Chair, naming Liz O’Neill, most recently COO of Levi’s Strauss & Co., as Ariat’s new CEO. Like every big decision with Ariat, Cross’s succession plan was thoroughly researched. She sought advice from other CEOs and mentors and spent considerable time thinking about what Ariat would need from its next leader.
Cross believes it’s the right time for the transition, beginning with having found the right person for the job. O’Neill has the skills and experience that will support Ariat today and in the future, and, equally important, shares the company’s values. The goal was never about finding Cross 2.0. “The idea of someone with a similar profile to me might offer near-term familiarity, but we’re playing the long game,” she says. “Liz is a terrific addition to our leadership team as we build for the next phase of growth.”
O’Neill grew up on the campus of U.S. Military Academy at West Point, where her father was a professor, and learned to ride at the Academy stables. She also brings a deep background in apparel and years of experience leading complex global operations. “She possesses very strong operational, supply chain, and leadership skills,” Cross says. “She knows what it’s like to have a lot of balls in the air. She has a real understanding of the consumer, is incredibly smart, and is really curious. She’s just a great fit.”
For Cross, the transition is also an opportunity to demonstrate what a long-term career at Ariat can look like. She wants employees to see that the company and its leadership can continue to grow and evolve in a healthy way as people move through different stages of their career. “If we were to send a message that anyone on the team is irreplaceable, what does that say to our team? It’s the team that’s indispensable,” she says, adding, “My greatest joy will be seeing Ariat continuing to grow and the team evolve along with that.”
That sense of continuity is reflected throughout Ariat. Many of the company’s 1,500 employees stay for decades, drawn to its strong culture, authentic brand values, and collaborative environment. Some never fully retire; instead, they attain emeritus status, remaining a source of wisdom and perspective for fellow team members. The goal with every hire is to develop the indispensable qualities Cross believes exist in every member of the team. “Sometimes that energy just needs to be coaxed out,” she says. “Community connection and being part of a great team can bring out one’s creativity, vision, joy, and collaboration.”
Cross is reassured knowing that Ariat is in good hands. The day-to-day responsibilities are off her plate, but she’s still on the team. Of late, she’s been working closely with O’Neill to make her on-ramp as smooth as possible while also focusing on her work with the board. The ultimate goal is the same one Cross has had throughout Ariat’s history: ensuring the company has a long and successful future.
When asked what she is most proud of at Ariat, Cross comes back to the team. “What we’ve built together,” says Cross. “It’s been such a privilege to be a part of it. We’ve also supported a lot of families along the way—our team, our retailers, and our partners around the world. Together, we’ve built something that’s incredibly well-positioned for the next three decades. Great companies continue to take on whatever comes. That’s the mindset of Ariat.”
It’s All Good…Work
A series of jobs stretching from Pennsylvania to Alaska taught Beth Cross the rewards of working hard.
As a kid, Beth Cross didn’t think too much about a career. She was focused on riding, playing sports, and hanging out with her friends and family. In her twenties, she took a series of jobs before completing her undergraduate degree and attending Stanford’s Graduate School of Business to earn an MBA. Her jobs included working as a cook on a salmon processing boat in Alaska; cooking gigs in Colorado and Arizona; working as a bread route driver in Denver; and working for a startup solar and wind energy company.
“I didn’t really have a career until I graduated from business school,” Cross says. “I had a lot of jobs where I learned so much, like how to get along with all sorts of people, how to have fun working, and how to work really hard.”
The bread route in Denver was great training in retail. “I was always negotiating for space on the shelves, and I learned how important it was to get your product in the most visible space in the store,” she recalls. Cross would occasionally stop by her retailers on days when other bread company drivers weren’t working (Wednesday and Sunday) and swap out big-name competitors on the premium shelf spaces with her small bakery brand which were typically
on the bottom shelf. Hers would sell out by the next day and trigger a healthy re-order. “The bread route reinforced the value of showing up and outworking the competition,” she says.
By the time Cross reached business school, she already had a master’s in working in the real world. But the education she received at Stanford and during three years as a consultant for Bain and Company proved critical. “It was all coming together in my head—strategy, brand positioning, and most importantly how to communicate in a way that was understandable to people up and down an organization,” she says. “I had lots of experience in sales, but this formal training was invaluable.”
Cross’s work ethic is tireless. Thirty-three years into building Ariat and she shows no signs of slowing down. Along the way, she has achieved great success and received many accolades. The one she’s most proud of is her induction into the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame in 2024. The committee noted that she was one of the first businesswomen to be inducted but Cross believes otherwise. “Many of the other woman inducted into the Cowgirl Hall of Fame run large ranching operations or are world-renowned horse trainers, or have been successful in the arts. These are all endeavors that require strong business skills and leadership,” she says. “Those women all represent the qualities of a strong work ethic, commitment, curiosity, and resilience. That’s why I’m so proud of that recognition.”
One in a Million
Execs sound off on what makes Beth Cross a top shoe dog.
“Beth is not simply one of the most successful women in the industry, she’s one of the most successful human beings in it. She belongs on a Mount Rushmore of U.S. footwear entrepreneurs. She’s the most complete leader. She has the rare combination of being one of the smartest people I’ve ever worked with, while also being highly socially aware. She has incredible critical thinking skills and is consistent in both tough and good times. She operates with little to no ego and is one of the most empowering people you could ever work with.” —Bruce Kaplan, EVP, Ara NA
“Beth has always been incredibly humble and even keeled. I rarely see her get flustered. She stays calm, listens, and focuses on finding the right path forward. She’s also one of the hardest-working people I’ve been around, but what has always stood out most to me is that she never acts like she has all the answers. She’s an amazing listener, asks great questions, takes tons of notes, and is always willing to learn. She continues to be curious and open to new ideas.
Above all, Beth leads with integrity and empathy. She cares about the business and people, and how decisions affect them. Everyone who has worked with Beth would run through a wall for her.” —Tim Dougherty, VP of sales, Ariat
“Beth’s career has been defined by pioneering innovation and bold leadership. She has a vast knowledge of the western footwear space and cares deeply about her customers’ needs. She’s also unafraid to challenge convention, a mindset that has shaped Ariat into the exceptional brand it is today. I greatly respect and appreciate her insight. She has a keen understanding of her own brand, and how important collaboration with retailers is to the growth of the business. Her willingness to collaborate makes her an invaluable leader and partner.” —John Hazen, CEO, Boot Barn
“Beth has the rare ability to lead with grace, confidence, and humility. She does this with the demeanor of a friend rather than making anyone feel like they’re anything other than a trusted teammate in the business. She elevates every single person she interacts with across the organization. Ariat is Beth Cross. The team believes and lives out her values to work hard, believe in each other, and have fun along the way. —Selby Hansen, VP of sales independent, Ariat
“Beth has an incredible ability to stay focused. Most brands get diluted over time. Leaders come in and think they’re Picasso, trying to put their stamp on it, whereas Beth remains consistent. That’s why the brand is what it is today, and that’s why it has tremendous value. It’s a premium brand in a giant part of the industry now.” —Angel Martinez, co-CEO, Oofos
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