BETHEL, CT (BRAIN)—Mark Peterman, who has been with GT Bicycles for more than 20 years, has been tapped to be its new general manager, and will work out of Cycling Sport Group’s (CSG) headquarters in Bethel, Connecticut, starting October 31.
Peterman had been working out of GT’s Lake Forest, California remote office for almost 10 years, along with a handful of other employees. Dorel decided in early April to close its four remote bike offices including Lake Forest. Coming with him from Lake Forest will be product manager Patrick Kaye and new vice president of design Aaron Bethlenfalvy.
“It’s not always been the best situation,” Peterman said of working out of a remote office. Having everybody under one roof should improve the way GT does business in many regards, Peterman added.
Peterman, a White Plains, New York native, said there were three main reasons on why he decided to stay on with GT, and not stay back in Southern California. The first being the fact that it was a great career move for him.
“I really have the chance to craft the brand,” Peterman said. “I really wanted to take that next step career.”
Secondly, staying with Dorel in this leadership role will give him the opportunity to bring in more people, giving him more resources to succeed. Dorel not only owns GT, but Cannondale, Schwinn, Mongoose and apparel brand Sugoi as well.
And, thirdly, are his strong impressions of CSG’s North American president Jeff McGuane, who assumed this new role back in March.
“He’s a person that’s an industry guy,” Peterman said of McGuane. And he can also handle a downhill bike pretty well too, Peterman added.
“All of this gives me a lot of optimism and confidence going forward,” Peterman said.
For more on this story including what has Peterman excited from a GT product perspective for 2010, be sure to read the October issue of Bicycle Retailer and Industry News.
—Jason Norman
