Michael Howes Email & Phone Number

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

• Naturally when a larger group such as Scott Sports acquires smaller brands, the group seeks out synergies. In the case of our iconic Kiwi brand Avanti, this saw the exit of many of the former staff. As a Kiwi, when.
• Develop range strategies
• Design, develop & implement Avanti bicycle ranges
• Frame design & development
• Product specification development
• Negotiation/liaison with Asia factories

Melbourne

• After a ‘hiatus’ period, it was back in at the deep end of wholesale. This time around I had the fantastic opportunity to steer the development direction of the iconic, 100+ year old Australian Malvern Star brand..
• Product design, development & management for 110-year-old local bicycle brand Malvern Star
• Product management of the Haro-stable of products including Masi & Premium brands
• Oversee QA procedures including product compliance, testing, serious warranty issues & factory liaison
• Full responsibility for delivering ranges within the corporate GP guidelines & budgetary parameters
• Work with factories in China to develop bicycle ranges, assess samples, negotiate pricing & supplier agreements

Sales and general marketing support, plus restructuring of some key business operations

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

• Naturally, 9 years of product management / development / marketing for the most successful bicycle brand in Australia taught me an enormous amount about what makes great product. Moreover, it taught me the value of.
• Forming strategy, planning & project-managing the development of the bicycle range (120+ models), for the Australian & New Zealand markets
• Local & global product development including frame design input
• Manage specification, colour & graphics of bicycle products for Australia & NZ
• Work with local and Global Management Teams to implement a net-profit-sharing strategy between Giant owned factories & Giant Australia sales company
• Manage SKU volume for maximum productivity

My first role in the bike industry with a great & supportive team exposed me to the full gamut of the bike business: from the local-design/manufacturing of clothing and helmets; to the importation/distribution of industry-leading brands; to the sometimes-subtle art of creating a compelling marketing story to promote them. Responsibilities - Work with.

So, the products were somewhat ‘dry’ and reminded me why I didn’t rush to put my Accounting degree directly into practice; but the role certainly demanded that I think quickly on my feet and gel with a very dynamic team.Responsibilities - Providing first line phone/fax/email technical support for accounting software- Provide excellent support service.

Working in a room full of systems analysts and computer programmers taught me the fine art of ‘here’s the software, now work out how to use it and get it done’. Luckily, they were very supportive and receptive to a lot of questions while I got the hang of this concept – but it’s served me very well ever since. Responsibilities - Design/produce software.

During my time living and working in the UK, I travelled extensively throughout India, Nepal, Europe, Britain and Thailand. Not only did this open my mind to the many, varied and fascinating ways of life in these countries; it taught me to appreciate my own life, respect cultural differences and above all, think fast on my feet.I've continued to travel for.

Bike Couriering introduced me to a fundamental concept in my work/life. If you can combine work with a passion (in my case riding), it never really feels like hard work and you’ll always do a good job. It also allowed me to achieve the rare double of getting paid for one passion, in order to finance another (travel)!