After the reshuffle implemented in the Adidas Group's European management structure nearly two months ago, the company has appointed three of its own staff as country managers in France, Iberia and Italy.
Nicolas Favre has taken over at the start of this month as country manager in France. He joined the company in 1998 as product manager and assumed various marketing functions until he became the senior director in charge of brand activation for France. Favre is taking over from Guillaume de Montplanet, who was appointed in September as senior vice president of the company's direct-to-consumer business in Western Europe.
Marta Rios has taken the lead in Iberia, again from the start of November. She has been with the company for 20 years, the last four of them as senior director of brand activation. Rios also has international experience, since she was previously based in Australia as brand director for Adidas in the Pacific area.
Rios replaces Nigel Griffiths, who has taken up the new function of senior vice president of global sales. She reports to Gavin Thomson, senior vice president for Area West, and the same applies for Favre.
The general manager's seat in Italy will be filled by Franck Denglos from the start of next year. He has been with Adidas since 1994, working in markets and in global functions. He was previously vice president of global wholesale, and most recently in the global operations team as the vice president of Speed, one of the strategic choices in the Adidas group's strategic plan, Creating the New.
Denglos will report to Winand Krawinkel, senior vice president of Area East. Andreas Gellner was previously based in Italy as managing director for the South Europe area, but he has become senior vice president of finance for Western Europe.
The changes announced earlier meant that the Adidas group's regional clusters in Western Europe were reduced from four to just two. Under this structure, Thomson continues as managing director for the Benelux countries, the U.K. and Ireland, while the country managers for France, Iberia, and the Nordics report to him. Krawinkel continues to lead the Adidas Group in Central Europe, with four other managers reporting to him. Thomson and Krawinkel both report to Alain Pourcelot, who became managing director for Western Europe.
