Tom Ruiz is the new CEO of Jamie O’Brien’s Fun Day Surf. Photos: Fun Day Surf
Jamie O’Brien is a lot more than just a surfer. Sure, he got to where he is for his surfing, but he took that little bit of a flag and ran it to the top of the pole with his own ingenuity. From his vlog to his surf school and now Fun Day Surf, O’Brien has found a way to make a living through surfing, but not in the traditional sense. But even Jamie knows enough to know what he doesn’t know, so he’s enlisted a surf industry veteran to become the new CEO of Fun Day Surf.
Earlier this month, Tom Ruiz accepted the position as the head of O’Brien’s new brand. He first joined the team back in April, and he’s got a wealth of experience under his belt. He helped build brands like Volcom and Salty Crew into juggernauts, and now he’s focussed on turning Fun Day Surf into something huge.
At the time of this writing, Fun Day Surf can be found in surf shops on both coasts, as well as in Hawaii. With Ruiz at the helm, the plan is for Fun Day Surf to find its way into 120 new shops by the end of 2027.
Fun Day has a line of soft tops, bodyboards, hand planes, and of course the obligatory apparel. When O’Brien first fired things up, the business model was pretty simple: direct-to-consumer (DTC), which basically means that consumers ordered things without the help of third-party wholesalers or distributors. Now, the plan is to mix in a bit of wholesale with the DTC model. It’s a way of expanding quickly, and expanding the brand is right up Ruiz’s alley.
“It wasn’t a hard decision,” Ruiz told ShopEatSurf. “The Fun Day brand direction and the timing to enter the market alone sparked my interest. Then I met Jamie O’Brien. Jamie and I hadn’t met before, but once I started working with him, I began to better understand his marketing prowess, his reach, and his ability to connect with the surf community globally. I was also very impressed by the brand’s direction, which Jamie and Jason Bleick largely curated. Jason Bleick is a creative powerhouse and one of the best designers I’ve worked with.
They created something fun and different in the surf industry. Between Jamie’s star power and branding reach, Jason’s incredible creative talent, and the brand’s market positioning, the decision to join Fun Day as CEO was easy. Fun Day Surf has already started building a brand that is highly relevant to the surf world and emotionally connects with surfers. It’s also refreshing to see a brand built by surfers for surfers.”
Being a successful CEO isn’t an easy job. Sure, a brand like Fun Day Surf feels like — and might even be — a sort of laid back, fly-by-the-seat-of-the-pants operation, but a successful business needs a few fundamentals.
“As CEO, and from an operational standpoint, the focus always starts with the fundamentals: operational efficiencies, sticking to the calendar, creating productive product ranges and managing margins, planning inventories, and delivering a quality product on time, season after season,” Ruiz explained. “To do so, we’re adding key positions. Our most recent addition is Ryan Wist, who has incredible talent in multiple areas of the business, including merchandising, planning, sales, and systems. Logistics and warehousing are a large focus, including navigating freight costs. We will be adding a warehouse in Hawaii, SoCal, and the East Coast.
Once we have tightened planning and operations, we’ll look at product expansions, strengthening our DTC and international distribution.”
O’Brien, as you might imagine, has a lot on his plate already. He’s built himself a wonderful career, but that career relies on him being out and being active. The day-to-day obligations required from a CEO aren’t exactly conducive to picking up and jetting off where the waves happen to be firing, so Ruiz’s addition is a welcome one.
Ruiz has an idea that, on its face is a simple one: get Fun Day Surf into stores. Lots of them.
“The wholesale distribution plan is simple: be in the best surf shops in America, expand your footprint in these shops, and then expand into international territories,” he said. “JOB and our marketing manager, Damien ‘Damo’ Robertson, did a great job opening the first nine shops before I arrived. Jamie has solid relationships with the shops and opened premier surf shops on the West Coast, Hawaii, and the East Coast, including HSS, Val Surf, Spyder, Revolution, Surfride, Hansens, and Free Line. On the East Coast, we have Cinnamon Rainbows, and in Hawaii, Town and Country. Since then, we have added a strong sales force across the country and continued our ‘best-of-the-best’ surf shop strategy, adding Proof Lab, Pac Wave, On The Beach, Surfside Sports, ET, Sun Diego, Killer Dana, Drill, and Laguna Surf and Sport.”
The new CEO hopes that expansion continues.
“So far, we are off to a great start,” Ruiz said. “The support from the shops has been extremely encouraging.
The goal is 120 surf shops across America by the end of 2027. We are anticipating a great turnout for the brand when we launch spring ‘27 in two weeks.”
