Willem Haitink, general manager of Converse in Europe, has been poached by O'Neill by take over the leadership of the company, replacing Jan Valdmaa, the seasoned Swedish executive who has been running it for the last two years.
Valdmaa has left the company to head up one or more new ventures involving private equity deals, which should be announced after the summer. Valdmaa has been in the industry for many years, in leading executive functions at companies such as Adidas and Helly Hansen. He joined O'Neill in April 2009 with an assignment to harmonize and reinforce its business in Europe, and to more thoroughly explore opportunities in Asia and other emerging markets. This came after rights to the O'Neill brand were brought together under the ownership of WE International, a Dutch company specializing in apparel.
Haitink, who will start at O'Neill from the beginning of September, has rapidly climbed the ladder at the Nike group, working for the brand in the United States, Canada, Mexico and China. Under the Dutch executive's leadership in China, Nike aptly handled the country's short economic slowdown and strengthened its lead in the market.
Haitink will be succeeded at Converse by Bry Roskoz, who joined the company in 2006 as head of strategy and later became vice president in charge of international licensing. Before that, Roskoz worked for Bain & Company. She will relocate to Amsterdam this summer.
Separately, O'Neill has moved its German office from Neuss to Munich, to be closer to the Alps. Customer service for the German market, which was previously handled from O'Neill's European head office in the Netherlands, will also be moved to Munich. The company said that this German office should turn into a base for the company's activities in central Europe. From next year it will not only supervise O'Neill's business in Germany, Austria and Slovenia, but also in Switzerland.
