SAN FRANCISCO (BRAIN) — George Eubanks has been appointed the CEO of the San Francisco-based Public bike brand. Eubanks succeeds founder Rob Forbes, who is stepping aside from his CEO role and will remain active as chairman of the board of Public.
"We have successfully built the Public bikes brand over the last six years with our homegrown talent," said Forbes. "But to accelerate our growth we recognized that we needed more bike industry experience. George Eubanks' experience and reputation are unparalleled in the industry, and we feel super fortunate to have him join and lead our team."
Eubanks joins Public with more than 23 years' experience in the bicycle industry, including most recently the last eight years as president of Highway Two LLC. (Highway Two announced earlier this week that Eubanks was leaving and that Simon McNair has been appointed president.) At Public, Eubanks will be responsible for overseeing all day-to-day operations for the San Francisco headquarters, three store locations and the Public warehouse — all encompassing a staff of 30. The company plans to further develop its dealer sales.
Eubanks began his career as a sales representative in cycling and outdoor goods segments and held sales director and management-level positions with Electra Bicycles, Mavic, Shimano American and Serfas prior to joining Highway Two.
"I am excited to be here and to guide Public to the next level," Eubanks said. "This is a wonderful brand which has enjoyed considerable success with a select group of IBD retailers, through direct sales and through our own stores. We've learned a lot from this multi-channel platform and can now leverage this knowledge to help drive traffic to the IBD. There are so many great retailers in our industry and I look forward to sharing our unique model with them in the near future."
Eubanks will work from Public's San Francisco headquarters.
