TEMECULA, Calif. (BRAIN) — Andrew Herrick is stepping into the CEO role at Intense Cycles. Herrick was formerly president of Crankbrothers.
“Marv and I have been able to take Intense to a certain place. But it has plateaued given our abilities. To get to the next level we needed more expertise that we didn’t have,” said Jeff Steber, who with Marv Strand founded Intense in 1990.
“Andrew comes with a proven track history to grow companies both domestically and internationally with his marketing and sales knowledge. With this A-team running the business I can get back to the creative side and continue driving the brand forward,” Steber added.
Intense Cycles’ growth over the past 12 months surprised even the company founders. It’s not only Intense’s carbon models but its aluminum bikes and its quick jump into the 650b category that have also contributed to a 40 percent sales jump in 2013.
Steber and Strand responded quickly, appointing Chad Peterson in the newly created role of chief operating officer in November. A few weeks ago they hired Eelco Niermeijer as the company’s CFO, and now Herrick as CEO.
“I’m really excited being at Intense, Jeff and Marv have created a successful, vibrant brand. There is the opportunity now to scale this up to being a global company,” Herrick noted. Intense is distributed in 30 international markets.
The changes at Intense extend beyond personnel. The company’s assembly department now offers complete bikes, and it is offering new extended payment terms of up to 120 days for U.S. dealers via a partnership with GE Capital Finance. It is beefing up its in-house sales force with a new East Coast regional manager and a few West Coast reps.
