Thursday, 28 March 2024
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Russell Merry departs Dorel Sports, Nikki Hawyes appointed Country Leader

Dorel Sports, a division of Dorel Industries, has appointed Nikki Hawyes as the new Country Leader for the Cycling Sports Group UK (CSG UK) and Pacific Cycle UK businesses as Russell Merry, has decided to leave after a decade at the helm.

Peter Woods, CEO of Dorel Sports, said: “This is an exciting time for our UK and European businesses, which have seen strong growth in the last couple of years. Nikki and Eugene share a bold vision for the business, and I look forward to seeing the UK and European teams work together to deliver it. The future looks bright for the entire Dorel Sports portfolio. Please join me in welcoming Nikki to our business and in thanking Russell for his many contributions to Dorel Sports and Cycling Sports Group globally.”

Nikki will be joining Dorel Sports from ZyroFisher, one of the largest distributors of cycling goods in the UK and Irish cycling markets. Having held her position at ZyroFisher since 2009, most recently as Director of Brands across the UK, Ireland and France, Hawyes oversaw the entire portfolio of over 50 brands including: BMC, Red Bull, Giro, Bell, Argon 18, Camelback and SRAM.  Earlier in her career, she owned and ran a mountain bike store in France for several years.

Russell Merry CSG

Nikki will join the company on January 6th, 2021 and report to Eugene Fierkens SVP and GM CSG Europe. Going forward, the UK business plans to work more closely with CSG Europe, benefiting from the strong pool of talent there as well as the significant investments being made in assembly capabilities and capacity in the Netherlands.  In addition to CSG, Nikki will also oversee the Pacific Cycle UK business which is being bolstered through new and existing UK and European customers with the Schwinn and Mongoose brands.

Merry’s family founded Hot Wheels, a single outlet BMX shop that grew into an £14 million independent bicycle distributor of brands including GT, a brand owned by Dorel. Dorel purchased Hot Wheels in 2009, at which time Russell Merry became the leader of the CSG UK business.  Since then, he has been a valuable and charismatic member of the global Dorel Sports leadership team.

Also announced today, Dorel Sports will remove itself from the stock exchange, opting instead to take investment from new partner Cerberus which will purchase all outstanding shares aside from the Schwartz/Segel family shares.