WILTON, Ct. (BRAIN) — Dorel Industries, parent of the Cycling Sports Group and its stable of brands, which include Cannondale, GT, Schwinn, Caloi and Sugoi, has added several new hires in the new year in its recreational division. The company is also changing the name for its recreational segment from Recreational/Leisure to Dorel Sports.
Damon Rinard is the new engineering manager for road, CSG. He comes from Cervélo Cycles where he was a senior advanced R&D engineer and race engineer with the Cervélo Test Team. Rinard also previously served as R&D engineer for Trek's Advanced Concept Group. He will manage the R&D team for all CSG road bike projects. He will also work with CSG athletes to include their feedback in the company’s designs.
Jeremiah Boobar has joined the company as director of suspension technology, CSG. He comes from SRAM where he developed and launched the Pike suspension platform and Reverb height-adjustable seatpost. Boobar will provide vision and direction over all suspension spec and suspension development across all CSG brands and product segments.
Ben Ward has joined as the new BMX product manager for GT. Ward had over a decade’s experience in the industry with brands including Fit and Odyssey. He has spent more than 30 years as a BMX rider.
Markus Spenninger is the new engineering manager for e-bike and urban in CSG’s R&D facility in Freiburg, Germany. He comes to the company with a diverse engineering background, including time at BMW and Specialized. As the senior manager in CSG Freiburg, he will lead all engineering projects for e-bike/urban and oversee the daily operation of that office.
Dorel Sports said it has also been making hires and changes that the company said will strengthen its back office functions and improve supply chain and product availability. Changes include:
Daniel Mendes will move this month to Wilton, Ct., from the Caloi offices in Brazil. He has been promoted to the new role of vice president for global strategic procurement. Mendes will focus on sourcing all components and parts across Pacific Cycle, CSG and Caloi. Mendes has more than 12 years of experience with Caloi in various procurement and supply chain roles.
Preston Akers has joined Dorel Sports as director of quality and compliance, and will be responsible for driving quality control and processes across Pacific Cycle and CSG. Akers has more than 20 years of experience in quality and compliance working for Eddie Bauer and Land’s End.
Julie Redfield has joined Dorel Sports as senior vice president for human resources. She’s held a number of executive HR roles before joining the company.
Dhiresh Jethwa has joined as vice president and chief information officer and now leads the company’s global information technology organization.
“We have good momentum in our business as we enter 2015 and I’m excited about the upcoming year,” said Peter Woods, president and CEO of Dorel Sports. “We’ve made a number of exciting new hires and promotions to support key elements of our growth strategy in 2015, in particular our focus on developing and delivering industry-leading product innovation, the lifeblood and heritage of our company.”
“Dorel Sports is deeply committed to product innovation as a key driver of the business,” said Scott Rittschof, who joined as CSG’s senior vice president and general manager last September. Since then he has been active in making a number of key hires.
