The Finnish company is creating a new structure for Austria, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Germany. Effective Jan. 1, Amer Sports will have a Central Zone in place that will be headed by Armin Fuchs, until now country manager for the Netherlands and Germany, a position he will keep in addition to his new role.
The new sales director in charge of this area will be Daniel Sprung, so far country manager for Austria, for Wilson, Suunto and Precor, whereas Fuchs keeps direct control over Salomon in Germany and the Netherlands. The newly created area has a couple of new sales directors who report to Sprung: Thorsten Nowak (Wilson racquet and team sports), Mark Fest (Precor) and Hilton Smith (Wilson Golf). Sprung will take care of Suunto himself. Additionally, he will be in charge of Atomic in the Netherlands and Germany.
His successor as country manager for Austria is Stefan Schwarz, who will steer both Salomon and Atomic in that country. The same goes for Switzerland, where Andi Balz is the new country manager for the two brands. Bruno Rüdisüli, until now country manager for Switzerland, has already left the company. For retailers, there will be no major changes in the four countries because the current sales representatives and contact people in customer service will stay in place.
