Stan Grissinger will take over as Nike Golf’s manager for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) at the beginning of December, while his predecessor, Mike Francis, will become Nike Golf’s general manager in the USA. The appointments come a few weeks after Cindy Davis, former U.S. general manager, took the helm as company president.
Francis joined Nike in 2003 from Wilson Golf and started off as manager of Nike Golf Canada. In the European job for the last three years, the Canadian executive drove European growth in all product categories, set up Nike Golf’s dedicated distribution center and established separate sales forces in the U.K. to deal with footwear and apparel on the one hand, and clubs and equipment on the other hand.
Grissinger joined Nike Golf in 1999 as product director for golf balls. He then became category business director for balls for four years, and spent the last three years as category business director for clubs and balls. In this position, the American executive deployed new product business strategies and intensified R&D investments for clubs and balls.
With his expertise in golf equipment, Grissinger is expected to drive European growth in the club business, and to expand distribution of the whole range of Nike products in authentic golf channels. Nike Golf regards itself as the European market leader in apparel, and has assigned Grissinger to maintain that position, while building on Nike Golf’s growth in the footwear business. On the other, a new market research project that we are conducting on the golf apparel business in most European countries is beginning to show that Nike is not the leader everywhere.
