New Balance has announced the promotion of Francis (Fran) Allen to the position of vice president in charge of the company's Europe, Middle East and Asia (EMEA) region, based at the company's new European head office in Warrington, England. He takes this position from Jonathan Ram, who is moving to the position of executive vice president for North America. Ram, who had been in charge of the region since 2007, will continue to be based in Boston like in recent years.
Allen spent the last two years as general manager of New Balance for the U.K. & Ireland, reporting to Ram. He first joined New Balance in 1991 as executive vice president of sales, responsible for the U.S. and Canada, after working for Acushnet and Sports Enterprises, a former distributor of Puma in the U.S. He left New Balance in 2008 to work as senior vice president of global sales for Saucony, but returned to New Balance in August 2013 to run its business in the U.K. and Ireland.
Allen's latest position included responsibility for Warrior Sports' football operations in the area, which have been transferred to New Balance. Ram, a Canadian native who has been with the company since 2002, had also been in charge recently of international business development for Warrior.
