Fortune.com editor-at-large Michal Lev-Ram wasn’t just surprised to learn that the CEO of Cotopaxi, a successful outdoor gear company, was stepping away for three years to serve as a mission president for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
In a profile published Tuesday, she used the word stunning to describe Davis Smith’s decision. Then she wrote that she personally was shocked. All three words came in within a few sentences of each other.
Lev-Ram wrote that Smith and his wife “had been asked to commit to this religious role before being told where they would be stationed. This shocked me, for so many reasons, including the simple fact that of all the founders I’ve interviewed, not one had ever even brought up their faith, let alone cited religion as a factor in any kind of decision-making. Or the fact that committing to relocate abroad without knowing where you’re moving is highly unusual, to say the least.”
As Lev-Ram worked on the feature article, Smith let her know when his assignment arrived. He took over as the president of the Brazil Recife Mission on July 1. He told the Church News in February that he and the rest of his family were nervous about learning and speaking Portuguese.
You can read more about the article on Deseret News and read the full Fortune.com profile here (a Fortune.com subscription is required to read the full article).