The World Federation of the Sporting Goods Industry has appointed three additional members to their Board of Directors to serve for the current term lasting until 2020, at its General Assembly on the January 27, 2018 at ISPO Munich.
“We are pleased to appoint three new important Members of the Board who will continue to represent their companies at the highest level, and their active involvement will strengthen the leadership of the Federation,” stated Sean O’Hollaren, WFSGI chairman of the board. The three new members added to the current Board of Directors are (in alphabetical order):
• Simon Cheng, VP of Apache Footwear, replaces the former company representative.
• Akito Mizuno, President of JASPO – Japan Sporting Goods Association and President of Mizuno Corporation will newly join the Board of Directors.
• Li Ning, former Chinese gymnast and founder of the eponymous brand, has been a Member of the Board previously and has now been reconfirmed.
President and CEO of the WFSGI, Robbert de Kock, reported to the General Assembly another successful year for the WFSGI in terms of membership, services and finances.
“It is a great honor for me to lead the WFSGI through its 40th anniversary. 40 years of existence mean that there is a real need for associations like ours and I wish to thank our members for their support and trust in the work that we deliver for the industry. We will continue to serve our members according to their needs and challenges in our society. Our flexibility and reaction to new tasks is key for this success.”
The industry is facing many challenges and new developments around shorter lead times, close to market and flexible production. Retail also sees an increasing pressure from major e-tailers, their need for own e-platforms and new retail service offers.
“The developments around digitalisation takes a direct influence on our lives, and we are not 100 percent certain where this road is leading us. These are exciting moments for our industry, and as the changes come very fast we need to focus to succeed,” summarized Robbert de Kock regarding the current trends.
Sean O’Hollaren is convinced that, “with a strong committee system in place, tapping into the skills of our membership and with a team of professional staff at WFSGI, we are well prepared and organized to face the uncertainty and to turn it into opportunity.”
New to the event calendar was the first WFSGI World Cycling Forum (WCF) in 2017. The WCF in Portugal was a big success and a second edition is planned for March/April 2019. With the presidential elections at the International Cycling Union (UCI) in 2017, the new UCI President David Lappartient re-confirmed Robbert de Kock as the industry representative in the UCI Equipment and Fight against technological fraud Commission (former UCI Equipment Commission). In addition, WFSGI defined the details of collaboration with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and is moving forward on the first activities. One of them is the National Olympic Committee (NOC) Support Programme in PyeongChang 2018.
