After more than seventeen years of service as the Secretary General of FESI, Alberto Bichi has decided to pursue other roles within the political landscape of the EU. To ensure a seamless continuation of FESI’s activities, Jérôme Pero, FESI’s long term Director of policy, will assume the role of Secretary General and he will be supported by Youri Mercier as Deputy Secretary General.
“We wish Alberto Bichi all the best for his future work and we are delighted to welcome Jérôme and Youri to their important new roles.” Commented FESI President, Luca Businaro, who went on to announce that he would be stepping down from his role as President in order to dedicate more time to his own business.
Former FESI President and General Counsel for adidas AG, Frank Dassler has agreed to step in as acting President and he commented on the situation as follows:
“Luca Businaro has worked tirelessly to modernise FESI and we are very appreciative of the fact that that in addition to managing his own company and his President’s role of the Italian Sporting Goods Association ASSOSPORT, he has agreed to remain on FESI’s Board of Directors. We will continue the work Luca started and look to roll out our strategic development programme ‘FESI 2.0’, where FESI will move from being a reactive lobbying force, to a proactive, agenda setting actor.”
The full details of this exciting programme will be presented for the approval of FESI members at the General Assembly in November.
About FESI: Founded in 1960 FESI – the Federation of the European Sporting Goods Industry represents the interests of approximately 1.800 sporting goods manufacturers (85% of the European market) through its National Sporting Goods Industry Federations and its directly affiliated member companies. 70-75% of FESI’s membership is made up of Small and Medium Sized Enterprises. In total, the European Sporting Goods Industry employs over 700.000 EU citizens and has an annual turnover of some 81 billion euro.
Contact: Ariane Gatti, FESI Senior Communication & Policy Manager / [email protected] / +32 274 08 94
