The two met more than 10 years ago when they were both living in the same community and attending the same church. Kraus, originally from Wisconsin, worked his way through college selling athletic shoes and then worked in marketing for the Champion sports brand before being introduced to Under Armour founder Kevin Plank. Kraus was senior vice president of marketing for the Baltimore sports brand from 2001 to 2009, where, among other things he said he learned attention to detail, protecting your brand and "creating story in and around your product."