Rossignol’s Bruno Cercley To Retire As CEO, Keeps Non-executive Role As President & Member Of The Board. Vincent Wauters To Replace
After 16 years of leading Rossignol Group, Bruno CERCLEY will hand over the CEO responsibility to Vincent Wauters during 1st quarter of 2021, while he will keep a non-executive role as President and member of the Board.
Bruno CERCLEY joined Rossignol in 2002 and left in 2005 after Quiksilver acquired the Group. In 2008 he led a consortium that acquired Rossignol from Quiksilver, and he took over as CEO upon completion of this transaction.
Under Bruno’s leadership, Rossignol Group has grown to become one of the World’s leading Winter Sport brands portfolio, including Rossignol, Dynastar, Lange and Look. After a drastic restructuring plan conducted in 2009, the winter sport brands have steadily grown their market shares, and in recent years experienced unparalleled success in racing – across a range of most ski disciplines. This is a result of years of commitment and investment in building great products with a strong organization and leadership team, that was recognized when Bruno was named as “Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur”.
Under his leadership, Rossignol has also successfully launched a full Apparel collection and entered into the Mountain Bike market, extending its role as the “Pure Mountain Company”. The group is very well positioned to continue to leverage its unique portfolio of brands and accelerate growth.
Vincent WAUTERS will join the Rossignol group on December 1st, 2020 and continue the global development of its core business while leveraging its significant soft goods and e-commerce growth opportunity. Vincent and Bruno will work together for a smooth transition of the CEO role during 1st quarter of 2021.
Vincent is a seasoned Outdoor industry leader who previously served as CEO of Hunter Boots, President of Arc’teryx and Executive board member of Amer Sports Corporation in charge of the Global Operations and of the Apparel and Gear Category. He had also held various operational positions at Newell Rubbermaid and was one of the first employees of Amazon in France.
Bruno CERCLEY said: “Looking at what we have accomplished over the last decade, I am very proud for having had the great privilege to lead the Group teams in this incredible venture. We have recovered our leading position on skis with Rossignol, doubled our boots market share, we have created a true, steadily growing, apparel business supported by a unique brand positioning, and we have become a major partner for mountain passionates in their quest for “Another Best Day” experiences, all year long. I am quite grateful to the teams who have worked so hard with me to make this happen. This is a good time for organizing ourselves to continue to develop our vision and implement it through solid action plans. Having Vincent joining the Group is a huge opportunity that we could not miss. I am very excited to work soon with him to ensure a smooth and efficient transition. I will obviously remain very much interested and involved from a more strategic perspective, as President & Board member.”
Vincent WAUTERS commented: “It is a great honour to join such an iconic, leading and authentic Outdoor group. What has been accomplished under Bruno’s leadership over the last several years is truly remarkable and I am looking forward to working with the team and our partners to enable a very exciting next strategic cycle.”
“It has been a privilege to work with Bruno over the last seven years. He has led a major transformation of the Group and is handing over a strong and well performing company to Vincent. I think the heritage of the Rossignol brands and organization is in good hands with Vincent, who with his background from global iconic apparel and winter sport Brands and his expertise across marketing, E-commerce and Operations, brings new capabilities important to accelerate growth from our solid platform”, says Hugo MAURSTAD, Chairman of the Board.