Vista Outdoor announced internally that the company had realigned its cycling, snow and powersports platform, according to a media statement attained by SGB Media.
- Jeff McGuane, president of Fox Racing, will become president of the combined platform, including the brand’s Bell, Giro, Blackburn, Krash, Copilot, Raskullz, and Fox Racing. Vista Outdoor completed the acquisition of Fox Racing in August 2022.
- Ric Kern, president of Bell and Giro, who joined the company in 2013 and worked in various key roles during his tenure, will retire at the end of its fiscal year ended March 31. Vista noted that Kern had “led an incredible recovery over the past 10-plus years and will support Jeff’s transition.”
Vista Outdoor said, “The changes will drive a “unified vision” for the seven brands in the platform and better “align systems, strategies and resources” to enable higher growth for each brand than what otherwise would be achieved if not together. The change, it said, is another “positive sign” that the integration of Fox Racing is ahead of schedule and exceeding expectations following the July 2022 acquisition.
Other changes as part of the realignment include:
- Noah Fox, VP, Operations, Bell and Giro, will become VP, Global Operations for the combined platform and its seven brands.
- Tanya Hayden, CFO, Fox Racing, will become the global CFO for the combined platform and its seven brands.
- Marci Gerlach, VP, People and Culture, Fox Racing, will become the VP of Global People and Culture for the combined platform and its seven brands.
Vista Outdoor said, “These moves come as Vista Outdoor eyes a huge opportunity in this space. This collection of iconic brands has the potential to lead and expand its share in the $16 billion total addressable market in which they operate. To get there, the company believes it must invest and grow above and beyond what’s possible individually.”
Jeff McGuane, president, Action Sports, Vista Outdoor, said, “cycling, snow and powersports are mission-critical categories for Vista Outdoor and our future outdoor products company. Expanding the cooperation of our seven brands while maintaining distinct brand positions is essential to strengthening our competitive advantage. In a short time, Fox’s integration into an already powerful family of brands has delivered a combined No. 1 market share across many of our channels, customers and product categories. With this newly realigned platform and newly appointed leadership team, we believe that all seven brands are even better positioned to win with riders.”
