‘Burned Out’ Head of Hobie Sports Will Leave Company

IRVINE — The president of Hobie Sports, a chain of retail surf-wear shops in California and Hawaii, said Thursday that he is quitting because he is “just burned out.”

Tony Mardian, an executive for 12 years with the chain and president for the past two years, said he plans to stay with the company through July to help with the transition to an as-yet-unnamed successor.

“I’m just ready to move on,” said Mardian, who is the son of Robert C. Mardian, the former U.S. assistant attorney general best known for his role in the Watergate scandal. His father was a lawyer in the reelection campaign of former President Richard M. Nixon.

As for his plans, the San Clemente resident said, “I’m going to take the summer and think about it.”

Hobie Sports has seven stores in California and six in Hawaii, with about 70% of its sales in clothing. It is one of a series of independent, separate businesses that hold licenses to use the name of Hobie. The brand name was made famous by surfboard and catamaran pioneer Hobie Alter in the 1960s.

Mardian, 38, said his proudest accomplishments as president were overseeing the company’s growth, updating the accounting systems and developing the chain’s own private line of clothing, Hawaiian Sun.

He came to the company’s Irvine headquarters from Hawaii, where he had gone to open a Hobie store in Kona.

He said that no successor has been named but that the list of candidates for president has been narrowed to three.

Mardian said he leaves the company in strong financial shape. “The surf industry in general had a very flat first quarter” of 1990, he said. “We fared well because of our ladies’ sales.”

Since then, he said, sales in general have bounced back and “business is fine.”