Background:

Clear Line is led by Steven Ruhl, a marketing and brand strategist with over 18 years of experience building some of the world’s most recognizable sports, outdoor, lifestyle, and functional beverage brands across the U.S., Europe, and Asia Pacific. Steven has held global and U.S. roles at New Balance, Decathlon, Van Rysel, The Coca-Cola Company, and Nutrabolt (C4 Energy), leading a broad range of functions from brand strategy and go-to-market to content, community, partnerships, and retail marketing across wholesale and DTC.

At New Balance, Steven was part of the leadership team that helped turn the brand into a $4.5B global business and grow Running into a $1B division. He shifted the brand deeper into culture, championed diverse and female athletes, and turned campaigns like “My Future Self” and “Fearlessly Independent” into platforms that shaped how people saw the brand, not just the product.

At Coca-Cola, Steven built his experience in energy drinks and sports marketing. He scaled Relentless Energy from $15M to $90M, built a community marketing model that rolled across other Coke brands, and led global work that touched the FIFA World Cup, Rio Olympics, F1, and partnerships with artists like Avicii. Later, with C4 Energy, Steven helped launch the brand’s first global campaign and worked alongside Kevin Hart and major sports properties from the NFL and NBA to WWE and college sports.

More recently, as VP / Head of Brand Marketing for Decathlon USA, Steven defined Decathlon’s U.S. positioning and launched the premium cycling brand Van Rysel into the American cycling market, working with partners like REI, Sea Otter, and key independent bike dealers to build something that felt genuinely disruptive.

Since 2021, Steven has been advising and consulting with emerging brands across outdoor, running, cycling, lifestyle, sports tech and functional beverage categories

Outside of work, Steven spends as much time as possible outdoors with his family, running trails, skiing & ski touring, and riding. He recently bagged his first PNW Peak summiting Mt Adams and is planning to climb Mt Hood and run the Timberline Trail in 2026.