ROTTERDAM, The Netherlands, Oct. 27, 2003 (PRIMEZONE) -- Head N.V. (NYSE:HED) (VSX:HEAD), a leading global manufacturer and marketer of sports equipment, announced today that Stefano Di Martino, will be joining Head as the Managing Director of the Diving Division. He will take up his position in January 2004 when he will also be appointed Managing Director of HTM Sport S.p.A Italy and become a Member of the Executive Committee.
Stefano replaces Claudio Ferrantino, who announced his retirement earlier this month.
Most of Stefano's career has been spent in the Sporting Goods industry. He joined Nike in 1989, and held a number of positions including Product Manager and Commercial Director Italy. In 1999 he was appointed Sales Director for Nike in European, the Middle East and Africa.
Stefano, who is 37, is an Italian national and will be relocating to Rapallo, near Genoa, where the Diving Division is based.
Johan Eliasch, Chairman and CEO commented: "We are delighted to welcome Stefano to the team. In addition to the prerequisite passion for sports, we feel he brings with him the right mix of commercial, operational and managerial experience to head up our diving division. We are looking forward to working with him."
About Head
Head NV is a leading global manufacturer and marketer of premium sports equipment. We are a technology driven company, our motto being "Superior Performance Through Superior Technology".
We can trace our roots back to 1950 when Howard Head, the inventor of the first metal ski, founded the company. The Tyrolia bindings and Mares diving brands were added in the 1970's and more recently the Penn balls and Dacor diving brands were acquired during the 1990's.
Head NV has been under its present management since 1996 and was listed on the New York Stock Exchange and the Vienna Stock Exchange in September 2000.
Our current operations are organized into four divisions: Winter Sports, Racquet Sports, Diving and Licensing.
Within these divisions we have created or acquired some of the most recognizable brands in the sporting goods market including:
Head
Tennis, squash and racquetball racquets; alpine skis and ski boots; snowboarding boards, bindings and boots; accessories and apparel
Penn
Tennis and racquetball balls
Tyrolia
Alpine ski bindings
Mares/Dacor Diving equipment
Our key ski, racquet and diving products all have leading market positions and appeal to a wide range of consumers from novices to some of the world's top athletes including Andre Agassi, Rainer Schuettler, Hannes Trinkl and Francisco "Pipin" Ferreras.
Our products are sold through over 30,000 accounts including pro shops, specialty sporting goods stores and mass merchants in over 80 countries around the world.
Our strategy has always been to develop groundbreaking products positioned at middle to high price points. We believe this helps us achieve our financial returns as well as gain market share.
Please visit our website: www.head.com