Without waiting for the formal closing of its acquisition of Billabong International, which took place as planned on April 24, Boardriders announced the establishment of a new leadership team that includes existing managers from the two groups and two external recruits. It does not include Neil Fiske, the former chief executive of Billabong, and a few other former top managers of Billabong.
Two key members of the new team, Greg Healy and Shannan North, are being welcomed into Boardriders' board of directors. Neil Fiske, the former chief executive of Billabong and other former directors of Billabong – Gordon Merchant, Ian Pollard, Kim Anderson, Howard Mowlem and Elliott Weinstein – have resigned, and Billabong's shares have been delisted from the Australian Stock Exchange.
Healy will also serve as global president of Boardriders and president of all Asia-Pacific operations. Retaining his current position at Billabong, North will serve as global president in charge of the Billabong brand and of retail strategy, but for the whole enlarged group.
Healy, an Australian manager who moved back home last June after a stint as president of the Americas region, was a close aide of the late Pierre Agnès, the former CEO of Boardriders, who mysteriously disappeared at sea last Jan. 30. The investigation into the circumstances of his death are still going on. The conclusions are expected before the summer.
Joe Scirocco, who worked previously for Quiksilver, is returning in the position of chief financial officer for the whole Boardriders group, based in the U.S. Jim Howell, Billabong's present CFO, is leaving the group. Two other Australian-based managers of Billabong, Tracey Wood and Paul Burdekin, are also leaving. Wood served as company secretary of the Australian company and Burdekin as its general manager for the Asia-Pacific region.
On the other hand, Boardriders' former French-based CFO, Thomas Chambolle, is confirmed in the new position of president of the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region, responsible for the whole group. Nate Smith, who joined Boardriders in the U.S. last July, will be the president of the whole group for the Americas.
In Europe, Chambolle will work with Jean-Louis Rodrigues, the former European director of Billabong, who will serve as general manager of EMEA wholesale operations for the whole group. It could not be learnt at this stage whether members of his team will join those of Boardriders on the French Basque Coast.
Some other former managers of Boardriders and Billabong will have transversal functions for the back-office operations for the entire group. While Mara Pagatto will leave has human resources manager of Billabong, Ilene Eskenazi, who has been with Boardriders in the U.S. for the last two years, will serve as the group's human resources officer and global general counsel. Julie Ott, who joined Boardriders from VF Corp. as chief operating officer based in France one year ago, will take responsibility for the whole group.
Mike Yerkes, who has been senior vice president of Billabong in charge of global operations and IT, based in California will be concentrating on logistics for the whole group. Nicolas “Nico” Foulet, a former marketing manager of Quiksilver who has been most recently Boardriders' chief information officer, in charge also of e-commerce and digital marketing, will be the chief information officer of the group.
Boardriders will also have a chief integration officer recruited from outside, Sonia Lapinsky, to oversee the transformation of the group, but her mission will likely be limited in time. She has been the managing director of an international consultancy, Alix Partners, based in New York.
Under the new structure, all the major brands of the enlarged group will have a global general manager. Garry Wall will run the Quiksilver brand, Emilie Souvras will run Roxy, Mike Jensen will run DC Shoes, Kevin Meehan will run RVCA and David Brooks will run Element. As previously mentioned, North will continue to run the Billabong brand, as he has done for the last four years out of the U.S. The brand managers will be coordinated by a new chief brand officer, Dan Levine.
The members of this new team will report directly or indirectly to Dave Tanner, who is confirmed as chief executive of Boardriders, based in California. He is the managing partner of Oaktree Capital Management who orchestrated the merger of the two leading factors in the global action sports market.
Meanwhile, Boardriders reported the official opening on May 1 of the first multi-brand Boardriders store in the U.S., offering a wide range of products under all the group's labels: Quiksilver, Billabong, Roxy, RVCA, DC Shoes, Element, Von Zipper and Xcel, along with a large selection of accessories and premium boards. The 4,200-square-foot store is located in front of the Pacific Ocean in the iconic Californian surf city of Malibu. First launched in 2010, the Boardriders multi-brand concept has already been implemented at other important locations such as Chamonix in France, Ericeira in Portugal and Torquay in Australia.
