ANOKA, Minn. (BRAIN) — Vista Outdoor announced internally on Tuesday that it has realigned management of its cycling, snow and powersports brands that make up its Action Sports business unit.
Jeff McGuane, previously the president of Fox Racing, which Vista Outdoor bought last July, will become president of Action Sports. With the addition of Fox Racing, Action Sports now includes seven brands: Bell, Giro, Blackburn, Krash, Copilot, Raskullz and Fox Racing.
Ric Kern, who is the current president of Bell and Giro, will retire from Vista Outdoor at the end of its fiscal year, March 31.
"The changes will drive a unified vision for the seven brands within the platform and better align systems, strategies and resources to enable higher growth for each brand than what otherwise would be achieved if not together. The change is another positive sign that the integration of Fox Racing is ahead of schedule and exceeding expectations," the company told BRAIN in a statement.
Other changes include the promotion of Noah Fox, the current VP of Operations for Bell and Giro, who will become the VP of Global Operations for Action Sports. Tanya Hayden, the current CFO of Fox, will become the Global CFO for Action Sports and Marci Gerlach, current VP of People and Culture for Fox, will become the VP of Global People and Culture for Action Sports.
Vista Outdoor will split into two distinct companies, including an outdoor products company that will include the Action Sports business unit, and a company that will comprise its shooting sports brands. The split is expected sometime in 2023.
In a statement, McGuane said, “Cycling, snow and powersports are mission-critical categories for Vista Outdoor and our future Outdoor Products Company.
"Expanding the cooperation of our seven brands while maintaining distinct brand positions is essential to strengthening our competitive advantage. In short time, Fox’s integration into an already powerful family of brands has delivered a combined No. 1 market share across many of our channels, customers and product categories. With this newly realigned platform and newly appointed leadership team, we believe that all seven brands are even better positioned to win with riders.”
