BOULDER, COLO. (Mar. 2, 2023) — PeopleForBikes’ 2023 Bicycle Leadership Conference (BLC), taking place March 14-16, 2023, in Dana Point, California, is a three-day event bringing together CEOs and other top executives from across the bike industry to network, learn, and tackle the biggest challenges and opportunities facing bicycling and the bike business.
Conference attendees will hear from headlining keynote speakers including Bonnie Tu, chairperson of Giant Group; Eric Artz, president and CEO of REI; Davis Smith, founder and CEO of Cotopaxi; and Eric Min, co-founder and co-CEO of Zwift. See the full list of 30+ BLC speakers here.
The full conference agenda includes dozens of lessons to help any bike business succeed in the current industry climate: leading your company during uncertain times, using data to enhance sales and market forecasting, boosting employee wellness and retention, the future of work, navigating regulations, growing and diversifying participation, and more. In addition to the daily slate of sessions, ample networking opportunities allow attendees to connect over happy hours, curated dinners, and guided local bike rides in the conference’s idyllic Southern California locale.
Some 2023 BLC — Dana Point sessions include:
Investments and Acquisitions in the Bike Industry — What are buyers looking for?
In the past few years, financial buyers have shown an increased interest in cycling, with private equity groups like RAF Industries (Priority Cycles), Middleground Capital (HLC), Zabel (Stan's), Sterling Capital (Colorado Cyclist, Planet Bike), Ridgeline Ventures (Pro's Closet), and KKR (Accell Group) investing in cycling. Also, family offices like Next Sparc (Revel Bikes) and outdoor businesses like motorsports platform Pier Mobility (Felt) and watersports platform Kent Outdoors (Kona Bikes) have entered the cycling industry with investments. Russell Cree, managing partner at Bell Lap, an advisory firm solely focused on outdoor recreation and active lifestyle businesses, will discuss who these buyers are, what product categories and channels are most attractive in the current market, and what the next 12-24 months could look like for the market value of bike industry businesses.
Speakers:
Darren Campbell, President, Hayes Bicycle Group
David Walden, Vice President, Middleground Capital; Owner, Hawley Lambert Cycling
James Carey, Partner, Next Sparc; Owner, Revel Bikes
Moderated by Russell Cree, Managing Partner, Bell Lap
CEO Roundtable: Lessons from the industry’s most influential leaders
Hear from top voices at industry-leading companies during this can’t-miss panel discussion on investing in the most important priorities for your business in a post-pandemic-boom market. Learn how management at brands including Zwift, SRAM, Thousand, United Wheels, The Pro’s Closet, and Specialized, are addressing outlook forecasting, balance sheet management, talent retention and employee happiness, supply chain and sourcing issues, cost transformation, and more to guide your own company through the uncertain waters of the current market.
Speakers:
Ken Lousberg, CEO, SRAM
Gloria Hwang, Founder + CEO, Thousand
Bruno Maier, President + COO, United Wheels
John Levisay, CEO, The Pro’s Closet
Armin Landgraf, Chief of Worldwide Markets, Specialized Bicycle Components
The Power of Employee Wellness: Boosting resilience, fulfillment, and performance
In the face of an employee exhaustion epidemic, it’s time to rethink how we view high performance in the workplace. As the CEO of RISE, a breakthrough wellness company, Suneel Gupta helped thousands of people overcome their challenges with physical and mental health. Now, he helps organizations increase performance, innovation, and creativity by showing why high-potential people and teams fizzle out — they don’t run out of time or talent, they run out of energy. Gupta will discuss lessons from his one-of-a-kind teaching at Harvard Medical School and eight years of closely studying the habits of extraordinary leaders who reached breakthrough levels of productivity, resilience, fulfillment, and momentum, sharing how you can implement these tactics at your company.
Speaker: Suneel Gupta, CEO, RISE
The Most Important Marketing KPI You Probably Aren’t Measuring: Customer Value
A fact often overlooked by both start-ups and legacy businesses is that commercial growth requires long-term marketing strategy, especially when economic realities are unfavorable. Join a panel discussion led by Matt Heitmann, chief marketing officer, North America, of Signa Sports United, on what he describes as the most important marketing key performance indicator (KPI): customer value. Learn from leading industry experts on the importance of lifetime customer value, how it’s measured, and how brand, product, customer service, and marketing intersect to generate customer value for short and long-term success.
Speakers:
Matt Heitmann, Chief Marketing Officer, North America, Signa Sports United
Dustin Robertson, Partner, Direct Response Media Group
See the full list of 12 sessions here.
PeopleForBikes would like to thank the following sponsors for their support:
Title Sponsor
- BOSCH
Gold + Silver Sponsors
- Best Payment Solutions
- Huffy
- Shimano
- Spoke Safety
- SRAM
- Trek
Supporting Sponsors
- ACT-LAB
- Bike Flights
- Cervélo
- National Bicycle Dealers Association
- Reserve
- Santa Cruz
- SmartEtailing
- YUBA
Space is limited, register for the Bicycle Leadership Conference today to secure your spot and join these crucial conversations with dozens of other leaders from across the industry. For more information about PeopleForBikes or the Bicycle Leadership Series, contact Danny Kuzio at dk@pressforwardpr.com.
About PeopleForBikes
PeopleForBikes is making biking better for everyone by uniting millions of Americans, thousands of businesses and hundreds of communities to make every bike ride safer, more accessible and more fun. The PeopleForBikes Coalition has more than 325 supplier members and 1.4 million supporters in its grassroots network. When people ride bikes, great things happen. Join us at PeopleForBikes.org.
