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In a move aimed at ‘consolidating and simplifying business operations’, Shimano Europe will bring its bike, fishing divisions and its bikefitting.com division into one centralized company.
The three companies – Shimano Europe B.V, Shimano Europe Fishing Holding B.V and bikefitting.com B.V – have been merged into Shimano Europe Holding B.V, which has also been renamed Shimano Europe B.V.
Coinciding with these changes, two new members will join Shimano Europe’s board from SHIMANO’s executives, Taizo Shimano and Hiroshi.
Taizo Shimano joined Shimano in 1991, serving his apprenticeship in bicycle and fishing positions overseas before progressing to management positions in Shimano Inc.’s Fishing division.
Hiroshi Matsui joined Shimano in 2011 as VP of corporate administration, progressing to director of general operations division, prior to taking his current position as senior vice president. At the same time, current board member Yoshihiro Hirata will step down. Marc van Rooij and Satoshi Yuasa will remain members of the board.
In daily operation, a newly-formed executive committee will lead the company. Frank Peiffer joined the executive committee as VP Bike of the Shimano Europe Group, while Arjen Vinke has been appointed as managing director of Shimano’s European sales offices. The tasks of Marc van Rooij and Cor Ax will not change in the executive committee.
Thom van Egmond joined Shimano Europe in the position of chief finance officer in the executive committee of the company on January 1st, 2018. He has been working at leading consumer goods company Unilever for 22 years, having spent 16 years at Unilever offices in Singapore, Italy and Morocco, holding senior functions in finance, supply chain and change management.
Board member changes will also take place at Rapala Shimano Eastern Europe with Taizo Shimano also becoming a board member – replacing resigning board member Satoshi Yuasa.
