Prince Sports has split the company into two business units to better service the needs of local markets, according to George Napier, chairman and CEO of Prince Sports, Inc.
Prince Sports USA will be led by former Rollerblade USA chief Bill Foy, who moved over to Prince in September of last year after Benneton sold Rollerblade to Tecnica and sold Prince to a management team led by Napier.
Prince Sports International will be headquartered in London and led by Alistair Thorburn, who had been president and COO of Prince Sports since the MBO. The International team is still expected to work through Prince R&D and Prince Taiwan to develop products that meet their markets needs.
Additionally, Linda Glassel will assume the new position of VP of Sports Marketing and Communications, adding Licensing to her on-going U.S. responsibilities that include Advertising, PR, Web and Tennis Tour management activities. Glassel and her team will also support both business units with strategic marketing and brand messaging. Howard Lay is now VP of Product Management, a new position, and will coordinate and direct U.S. product management activities.
Global product councils for footwear and racquets will be formed to ensure coordination between the two groups on tour products and strategies, and technical innovations.
