A Successful Partnership: Gordon Seabury of Horny Toad and Search, Inc.
Passport to Adventure, our annual fundraising event will be held May 3, 2014. This year’s Honorary Chair and Leadership Award recipient will be Gordon Seabury, the CEO of Horny Toad.
As an outdoor industry leader for the last 18 years, Gordon has committed his adult career to building companies and brands that practice a triple bottom line approach to business – people, planet and profit. Gordon conceived Horny Toad in a basement design studio in Telluride. Founded in Chicago and now based in Santa Barbara, Horny Toad has made clothing using eco-friendly fabrics and designed to meet the needs of both outdoor and city life since 1996. Gordon and the Horny Toad team see every day as a chance to be social leaders and good environmental citizens.
The partnership between Horny Toad and Search, Inc. spans nearly two decades. Gordon’s socially responsible vision was instrumental in the creation of Planet Access Company Fulfillment (PAC), Search’s thriving social enterprise. As a fully functioning third-party logistics provider, PAC generates earned income that helps to support important services for people with intellectual disabilities. PAC also provides individuals in Search’s employment programs with opportunities to engage in paid-work and gain valuable work experiences. Horny Toad is PAC’s largest customer, shipping a half million units of product per year.
With the continuing success of PAC, Gordon’s entrepreneurial expertise came in handy once more when, in 2010, Search opened Planet Access Company Store (PAC Store). PAC Store is a retail clothing and apparel store located in the Lincoln Square neighborhood of Chicago. PAC Store offers a unique shopping experience to its customers, featuring socially responsible clothing brands. PAC Store also offers a train-to-work program for individuals who are interested in gaining work experience and eventual employment in the retail field.
Gordon and Horny Toad have also been key supporters of Search’s unique travel program, Search for Adventure (SFA). SFA offers people with disabilities vacation experiences to destinations near and far. Getaways have included hiking the historic Appalachian Trail, experiencing the majesty of the Grand Canyon and riding the range at the Powderhorn Dude Ranch in Colorado.
As a PAC customer, Horny Toad helps to sustain SFA financially, but Horny Toad’s support goes well beyond money. Horny Toad employees join the trips as volunteers. Due to its popularity, the volunteer program has been expanded so that employees from stores that carry Horny Toad can also participate.
Since growing Horny Toad and partnering with Search to create social good, Gordon has launched Lizard Lounge, a sustainable entertainment and arts gathering center meets modern retail lounge in the Pearl District in Portland. In 2008, he and the Horny Toad team steered the extremely innovative Nau sustainable clothing brand through the recession and to a promising future.
Gordon has been a Director on the Board of the Outdoor Industry Association for the last 14 years. He also serves on the Boards of Heal the Bay, a Santa Monica nonprofit, the Portland Athletic & Outdoor Advisory Council, Rootsrated.com, a tech start-up in the Outdoor Lifestyle space and is a Mentor for the Telluride Venture Accelerator.
In between family and work he enjoys just about anything the outdoors has to offer, especially if it is in the ocean, on a river or near his family cabin in June Lake in the Eastern Sierras.