Mark Erickson enjoys a career in the outdoor industry that spans 40 years. The president of Erickson Outdoors is responsible for the creation and production of a wide variety of outdoor apparel and equipment items. Though you may not recognize his name or even the name of his company, Erickson was instrumental in boosting standards of quality and performance for several of the top brand names in the industry.

But what's truly ironic about Erickson's role in the history of the outdoor business is that he started out with a completely different set of goals in mind. Trained as an actor and filmmaker, he originally migrated to California from the Midwest in 1968 to try his hand at a Hollywood movie career. A stopover in Berkeley, however, resulted in a prolonged stay as an employee of outdoor product manufacturer The North Face. Erickson's been in the business ever since.

SNEWS® Live connected with Erickson to get his story on how he went from dreams of making products for Hollywood to building merchandise used in the Himalaya.

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