PHILADELPHIA, PA (BRAIN)—Advanced Sports, Inc. has hired Steve Parke for the newly created position of director of sales. Parke will oversee all international and domestic sales activity for ASI’s six brands: Fuji, Kestrel, SE, Breezer, Terry Precision and Oval Concepts.
“ASI really has such a great complementary line of all these brands. Pat’s assembled them, and I’m working on getting a very clean and clear identity for them and getting our sales people to be able to articulate that,” said Parke yesterday on his first day on the job, speaking from Australia where he and ASI president Pat Cunnane met with ASI’s Australian distributor, Oceania, and Goldcross, a multi-store retailer in Melbourne.
Parke is headed back to U.S. today and then will have a heavy travel schedule to meet reps and immerse himself in the ASI sales team.
Parke brings a lifelong career of industry experience to ASI, having worked with brands such as Ritchey, Scott, Bridgestone and Trek, and has experience working with Specialty Bicycle Retailers (SBR) in the northwest.
“Steve’s extensive background in professional sales and marketing in the bicycle business will help us as we continue to evolve and grow,” said Cunnane. “ASI strives to be one of the easiest companies to work with, and we look forward to implementing Steve’s strengths in our sales department to improve and continue to grow.”
Parke joins ASI from Ritchey, where he was the general manager and vice president of global marketing.
“The suite of brands under the ASI family was the single most attractive quality in deciding to join this talented group of people," Parke said. "Dealers want lifestyle solutions from their bike vendors that are intelligent and address the broad range of diversity in their customers. ASI is uniquely positioned to be a modern day, user-friendly vendor, with a long commitment to the SBR.”
In his new role, Parke will direct a team of sales managers and an inside and outside sales force. Working closely with the marketing, product and operations departments at ASI, Parke and his sales team will work to expand and grow business both domestically and internationally.
Although his recent role at Ritchey was more expansive, Parke said he welcomes the return to a sales focused role. “My background is as a sales rep on the road selling into shops,” Parke said. “Really, in my mind, I’m going back to the core of where I spent 20 of my 30 years in the industry. I became a generalist, and I’m happy to have those skillsets that range beyond sales, but I love selling. It feels like I’m going back into water.”
Parke and his wife will relocate from Redwood City, California, to ASI’s headquarters in Philadelphia.
—Megan Tompkins
