Scott Rittschof has been named senior vice president of the Rossignol Group in charge of its growing bike division, which includes Rossignol bikes as well the Time Sport and Felt brands. He is joining the group with an impressive cv.
Rittschof worked for Dorel Industries' Cycling Sports Group (Cannondale, GT, Schwinn) as senior vice president and general manager for two years to the end of 2016. Prior to that, he spent five years with the Pon Bicycle Group, running Focus Bicycles USA and Cervélo Cycles, where he served as vice president of global sales. He also ran several bike stores in the area of San Diego, California, and he most recently worked with several consumer brands on product customization and digital operations, including e-commerce.
Rittschof will be based at the head office in California of Felt Bicycles, the American company that the group acquired early last year. At the same time, Rossignol announced the departure of Bill Duerhing, co-founder and former president of Felt. Sylvain Noailly, who previously coordinated the bike division, will continued to be involved in the bike project out of Rossignol's headquarters in France, focusing on the Time and Rossignol brands.
While investing more in apparel like the Amer Sports group, Rossignol is investing strongly in cycling to build up a strong counter-seasonal activity to complement its strong winter sports business. They are seen as being somewhat complementary because many retailers who sell skis for the autumn/winter season also sells bikes, especially mountain bikes, for the spring/summer season. Both apparel and bike products represented about 15 percent of the French-based group's total turnover of €345 million in the financial year ended last March 31.
