Prince Sports recently appointed Gordon Boggis as chief executive officer. This announcement follows a planned leadership
succession strategy. George Napier will be retiring as chairman and CEO
but will stay connected to Prince via a role as vice chairman, to ensure
an effective transition.
The appointment became effective on Aug. 23.
Napier led the successful buy-out of Prince from Benetton and
through many significant phases of the company's recent history.
Napier said: “It's been a privilege to work with so many great people inside
Prince, and externally, and I'll be forever grateful for their
tremendous support and inspiration. Now is the right time for Gordon and
a new team take the company to the next level. We have several exciting
new products and growth initiatives, either in the pipeline or
underway. While I won't be active within the business I will be Prince's
biggest fan and rooting hard for our success over the coming years.”
Boggis joined Prince in October 2009 as president and chief operating officer and since that time has been involved in many key
aspects of the Prince business. Before joining Prince, Boggis was CEO of
PaceMaster Fitness and before that President of the Dunlop Slazenger
Group Americas. Prior to his sporting goods experience, Boggis held a
range of management positions with multinational consumer packaged goods
companies. Boggis' early career was with SmithKline Beecham, where he
held a range of sales and marketing management roles.
Commenting on his appointment Boggis said:
“I am honored to be heading up such a great company as Prince. It
has been great working with George over the past several months on this
transition. Prince has a number of very strong assets. We engineer
highly innovative products, with visible technology, to help players of
all levels hit more good shots more often. We have one of the greatest
brands in racquet sports and a team of highly talented, committed
employees. Our focus now is to effectively synchronize all of those
assets to propel Prince into a new phase of growth.”
Prince also confirms the appointment of two, new non-executive
directors. Ron Coburn, Chairman and CEO of Savage Sports, joins the
Board, bringing with him extensive experience of developing and selling
innovative products to mass merchant and sporting goods trade channels
domestically and internationally.
Robert Siegel also joins the Prince Board. Siegel brings with him
considerable knowledge of brand building, particularly related to
lifestyle footwear and apparel, from his former roles as CEO of Lacoste
USA, Chairman and CEO of Stride Rite and President of Men's Wear at Levi
Strauss and Co, where he oversaw the introduction of Dockers.
