Get to know ZyroFisher’s senior management team

Having just opened a new southern office and showroom in Luton, BikeBiz takes a look at who the senior leaders are at distributor ZyroFisher:

Matt Barker
Chief executive officer
Matt joined Zyro in 2012 as Finance & IT Director and was appointed chief executive officer in April 2016 following his leading role in the creation of ZyroFisher. Matt describes his role as “leading our fantastic team and helping our employees, brands and customers maximise their potential”.

As a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants (FCA), Matt started his career at Deloitte and after six years with the firm has worked for the past ten years in leading roles within the retail and business services sectors in both public and privately owned businesses. Matt is a keen sportsman and spends his leisure time cycling and playing competitive tennis. Matt is continually identifying and driving improvements to ZyroFisher’s offer to brands and retailers and is looking forward to unleashing the huge pipeline of fantastic new products in to the market in the coming months.

Ian Calvesbert
Commercial director
Ian oversees the commercial activities of the ZyroFisher brand and marketing teams, maximising potential opportunities for growth and development in the UK and Ireland. Ian brings a wealth of experience, knowledge and passion to his role having worked with some of the leading brands in the action sports industry, including Fox Racing and O’Neill, for almost twenty years.

Under Ian’s leadership, ZyroFisher have developed two separate brand management teams that are unique in the industry in terms of size and skill. These teams are firmly focused on offering customers the freedom to choose from the leading brands to suit their business needs.

Paul Gibson
Finance director
Paul looks after all aspects of finance from management of accounts to funding requirements across the business. Under his watch, ZyroFisher are continuing to invest in systems and operating platforms, including improving the industry-leading warehouse facility, to ensure the ability to serve all brand and customer needs is ‘second to none’. Having always wanted to work in the sports industry, Paul joined ZyroFisher as financial controller in 2014 and was promoted to his current position of finance director in April 2016.

Damon Smith
Group sales director
As ZyroFisher’s Group sales director, Damon works closely with the sales teams within the business to optimise efforts and increase sales through inspiring and motivating these teams. A keen cyclist, Damon brings a depth of experience and insight to his position having directed European sales teams for almost ten years.

Damon is currently working to ensure all customers continue to receive industry-leading service. He manages twenty-five Account Managers who represent ZyroFisher across the UK and Ireland, getting product to market in the most efficient way possible and supporting IBD’s with exclusive offers.

Tim Ives
Altura brand director

Tim joined ZyroFisher earlier this year as Altura brand director with a clear vision to deliver brand growth and category direction aligned to our consumer and retailer needs. In Altura’s 20th year, Tim’s focus will be to extend reach to new consumer groups.

Having previously grown sales and created innovative new products at Speedo and SealSkinz, Tim’s leadership of the Altura brand will ensure the development of unique sophisticated technologies with rider experience and protection at the forefront of the brand’s design ethos.