MONTEREY, CA (BRAIN)—The Bicycle Product Suppliers Association elected a new president and welcomed two new members to its board of directors at its annual board meeting last week during the Bicycle Leadership Conference.
Chris Speyer, vice president of product and marketing for Raleigh America, has assumed the role of president of the BPSA, a position previously held by John Nedeau, vice president of OEM sales for SRAM.
Nedeau had served as BPSA president since 2006 and was the group’s first vendor member to serve as president, a position traditionally held by bicycle suppliers. Nedeau will stay on as past-president in an advisory role, but no longer has voting rights.
Nedeau admitted his term was a few years longer than he expected. “There was some benefit of a bit of a longer term for me given that there were a lot of things happening during that period,” he said, pointing to challenging issues such as New Jersey’s QR legislation, Prop. 65 litigation, and the CPSIA limits on lead content over the past two years, that the BPSA has tackled head on.
The supplier group also welcomed two new additions to its board: Jeff Young, senior manager of sales for Shimano, and Andy Tompkins, Interbike show director. Young will also serve as the BPSA board’s secretary.
Stepping down from the board are Thomas Prehn of Boulder Sports Research and CatEye, who served on the board for 19 years, and Marc Sani, publisher of Bicycle Retailer & Industry News, who served for the past six years, more recently as secretary.
Remaining BPSA officers include Roger Gierhart of Trek Bicycle, who serves as vice president, and John Dixon of SRAM, who’s now treasurer.
Aside from board changes, the BPSA also voted on several other issues. One was to hire Mike Tongour, of TCH Group, as a full-time lobbyist to work on behalf of the BPSA in Washington, D.C., specifically to help craft the CPSIA reform legislation, Nedeau said. Tongour also has lobbied on behalf of Bikes Belong in the past.
The board also approved a change to its bylaws that would allow more vendors to serve on the board beyond the current ratio, which is three. Now that is the minimum that could serve. Its bylaws were also revised to include a minimum of seven supplier positions and a minimum of one affiliate position on the board. “We want to demonstrate that we want to keep leadership fresh and be more inclusive,” Nedeau said.
Under Nedeau’s watch the BPSA expanded its industry statistics program to include retail sell-through data, and more recently has grown its overall membership by more than 20 companies. Much of that growth Nedeau attributed to an 8 percent discount on Interbike exhibiting costs that was extended to new members.
—Lynette Carpiet
lcarpiet@bicycleretailer.com
