NEW YORK, March 17 (Reuters) - Outdoor goods company

Yeti Holdings ( YETI ), which makes cooler boxes and insulated

cups, on Monday said it would add two new directors, expanding

the size of its board after months of discussions with activist

investor Engaged Capital.

Magnus Welander, former chief executive of lifestyle and

outdoor company Thule, and Arne Arens, former chief executive

officer of footwear brand Boardriders, will join eight

directors, increasing the board's size to 10.

The company was already working on refreshing its board and

Arens was introduced to the company by Engaged, a person

familiar with the matter said.

Yeti, founded two decades ago by two brothers who wanted a

better cooler to keep their drinks cold in the Texas heat, is

currently valued at $2.7 billion. Its stock price has come under

pressure recently amid the prospect of tariffs on goods from

China, where many of the company's products are manufactured.

Engaged, which owns roughly 2% of Yeti's common shares, has

held talks for months with management and has told people that

the company's stock price could triple over the next three years

if management pursues growth strategies and returns cash to

shareholders, two other sources familiar with the matter told

Reuters.

Yeti's stock price climbed nearly 4% on Monday while the

broader market was largely flat.

The company is already working on finding alternative

production sites and recently told investors on a conference

call that it is "ahead of plan" in shifting its drinkware

production out of China. The company said it expects to have 80%

of its drinkware capacity located outside of China by the end of

2025.

The fund has also urged Yeti to improve communication with

investors by scheduling conferences, an investor day and being

in touch more actively with shareholders, the people familiar

with Engaged's thoughts said.

Engaged's efforts have been behind the addition of more than

a dozen directors to boards over the past five years, industry

data showed.

Earlier this month it laid the groundwork for a board fight

at Portillo's when it nominated two director candidates

to the restaurant chain's eight-member board.