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 presented the opportunity of heading up this iconic brand, I jumped. Over my time with Avanti, I've delivered successful ranges into the local markets & extended our reach overseas. I've also executed the group’s goal of transitioning Avanti from a large, local team, to a streamlined distributed operation; I oversea design & development locally, but as part of the Scott group, enlist engineering support in Germany, Switzerland & Asia. So, what does this mean? As a 'team of one' in Melbourne, backed by local design support & EU/Asian engineering, Avanti is a 'lean, local' operation, that punches well above its weight in terms of the depth & breadth of product we deliver to our network.Responsibilities • Develop range strategies • Design, develop & implement Avanti bicycle ranges • Frame design & development • Product specification development • Negotiation/liaison with Asia factories• Work with Finance, Sales & Senior Management during the forecasting & budgetary processes• Collaborate with Sales & Marketing teams on brand & sales initiatives• Manage slow & obsolete stock • Oversee QA procedures up to & including product recall• Oversee & train Junior Product Managers Achievements • Transitioned Avanti from a local NZ development ‘pod’ to a ‘local team of one’, with distributed international engineering support• Deliver successful bicycle ranges to the AU & NZ markets, helping to cement Avanti as one Sheppard Cycles top performing brands • Expanded Avanti sales into the Indian, South African & Serbian markets• Managed key relationships across factories & component vendors during supply chain shortages in the Covid era • Managed stakeholder relationships in the ‘post-Covid’ era to control over-supply of stock

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. Additionally I took care of the Haro stable of bicycle brands which included Masi & Premium. This role really allowed me to get my hands 'dirty', developing product from the ground up.Responsibilities • 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• Work closely with Sales & Purchasing departments on all aspects of pricing & forecasting • Manage SKU volume for maximum productivity• New product/range introductionsAchievements • Strategized, planned, positioned & launched the Malvern Star Heritage Line, underpinning re-invention of this key brand • Designed, developed and project-managed the successful release of Limited Edition, heritage products including the 2019 relaunch of the famous 1980’s Malvern Star ‘BMX Bandits’ Supermax LE bike• Developed successful new frame platforms across every major segment including Kids, Mountain Bike, Road, Urban/Trekking and E-bike• Implemented strategy to cut SKU’s by over 15%, focusing the brand on profitable segments • Manage slow & obsolete stock in line with overall stock budgets

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 developing and growing strong relationships with key stakeholders – that building trust and respect is not mutually exclusive with negotiating hard to achieve successful outcomes. Responsibilities • 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• Visit factories across Asia to develop ranges, assess samples, negotiate pricing & work with key suppliers• Manage a full-time Product Assistant • Oversee QA procedures including product compliance, testing, serious warranty issues & factory liaison• Project-manage & prepare all locally produced product marketing materials and technical copy writing • Co-ordinate, direct & implement studio & action photographic shoots for marketing purposesAchievements• Successfully project-managed & launched bicycle ranges growing the Giant brand by more than 300% in Australia/NZ • Key member of the Global Product Development (GPD) group, steering direction of the brand, for global Giant product• Successfully built & maintained relationships with stakeholder, both globally & across multi-functional internal teams

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 clothing/helmet design team developing new products- Support Sales Manager sourcing and developing new hard and soft-goods lines- Manage development of corporate website- Copy-writing & graphic design for marketing collateral- Support sales team with development and provision of product marketing materialsAchievements - Supported product development team, strengthening consumer focus of brand & growing market share to 60%- Assisted successful introduction of new brands into the market including Scott, Fi’zi:k, Castelli and Topeak- On-time, within budget management of major, outsourced web-development - Successfully designed, developed and maintained micro-site on corporate website - On-time design, delivery and production of monthly advertising materials

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 adhering to service management principles- Respond to enquiries from clients resolving hardware or software problemsAchievements - Honed my strong analytical and problem solving skills in a high-pressure, results-focused environment - Developed strong customer service skills, delivering positive outcomes in support of urgent client needs

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 manuals, training materials and documentation- Design/produce all print and web marketing materials - Design/develop graphical user interfaces for software products- Design, develop, implement and maintain corporate website- Phone sales, client liaison and help desk support for software productsAchievements - Assisted software team in development, testing and launching of commercially successful, software products- Supported clients by providing documentation, training and technical support of software products- Developed strong skills at building and maintaining key customer relations

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 work and pleasure ever since and regardless of the course of my work and career, will always consider myself a 'traveller'.

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)!