Intellex Acquires Expert by Big Village

We're thrilled to announce that Intellex has acquired Expert by Big Village, effective March 22, 2024. This strategic move enhances our capabilities and strengthens our commitment to delivering exceptional solutions to our customers.

Stay tuned for more updates on how this acquisition will benefit our clients and experts.

For inquiries or more information, please contact us at info@intellex.com.

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Expert Details

Bicycle Industry and Market

ID: 727283 Wisconsin, USA

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Expert started in the bicycle business as an employee of a bike shop in St. Paul, Minnesota in 1957. He was hired as a writer by Arnold, Schwinn & Company in 1966 to develop a sales and management school for Schwinn franchised dealers. He worked for Schwinn for 24-years as a writer, sales promotion manager, director of product safety & governmental affairs, vice president of product safety & governmental affairs, vice president marketing, vice president bicycle marketing, vice president and assistant to the president and vice president purchasing.

He left Schwinn in April 1990 and moved to Lyndon Station, Wisconsin where his family had owned and operated a campground since 1980. In 1991 he estabished Expert & Associates, a consultancy focusing on the bicycle industry and market. He served as president of Giant Bicycle, Inc. in the mid-1990's, followed by his appointment as president of Browning Component Company. He returned to full time consulting in the late 1990's and focused on the specialty bicycle retail, or bike shop channel of trade. From 1997 through 2004 his consulting business manages the National Bicycle Dealers Association (NBDA) Retail Data Capture Program, a retail tracking program covering retail sales of new bicycles by bike shops.

Expert & Associates is affiliated with Z-Cam International, a product design trading company located in Taichung, Taiwan, the center of the Taiwanese bicycle industry and gateway to the Chinese bicycle industry.

In 2004 he co-founed The Gluskin Expert Group, a market and marketing research consultancy focusing on the outdoor and bicycle industries.



He contracted with the Scotts Sports Group (SSG), the company that purchased Schwinn Bicycle Compay out of bankruptcy in 1994 to set-up new sourcing for the Schwinn Airdyne and other fitness equipment with Merida Industrial Co. in Taiwan. SSG and Schwinn lost Giant Manufacturing Co. as their supplier of Airdyne and other fitness equipment as the result of the bankruptcy and needed a new source set-up in six-months to meet demand for the coming fitness season. Merida was the number two bicycle manufacturer in Taiwan behind Giant, but had never manufactured fitness equipment before. He formed a team of former Schwinn engineers and SSG / Schwinn certified our first test production run of Airdyne' at Merida six months and one day after the project started - earning the maximum performance bonus, less one day. He contracted with Graber Products (now Saris Cycling Group) to perform due-diligence relative the purucase of PowerTap, and hub based watts measurment system for road racers and triathletes. After the successful purchase of PowerTap he became the contract product manager for the eventual successful re-launch of PowerTap for the 2001 and early 2002 season. PowerTap in now a major contributor to the Saris Cycling Group business.He contracted with a client who had designed and built one working prototype of a new bicycle product, but needed three-fully functional and "like-production" prototypes for a major trade show and testing with-in a three month time frame. He researched and found two prototype houses that helped work throught the final designs and delivered the fully functional "like-production" prototypes on time for the client.He contracted with Yamaha to act as a marketing and market research resource for Yamaha's California R&D facility in the developement of pedal-assist (PAS) electric bicycles. This assignment included working for Yamaha's U.S. general counsel in applying for an advisory opinion from the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) that the Yamaha PAS equipped electric bicycles should not be regulated under the NHTSA, but instead under the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) as a "bicycle." The NHTSA agreed, and PAS equipped electric bicycles are regulated under the CPSC bicycle safety regulation.

Education

Year Degree Subject Institution
Year: 1961 Degree: High School Diploma Subject: Distributive Education Institution: Harding High School

Work History

Years Employer Title Department
Years: 1994 to 1998 Employer: Browning Component Compay Title: President Department:
Responsibilities:
He was the president and CEO
Years Employer Title Department
Years: 1993 to 1994 Employer: Giant Bicycle Inc. Title: President Department:
Responsibilities:
He was president and COO
Years Employer Title Department
Years: 1966 to 1990 Employer: Schwinn Bicycle Company Title: Vice President Department: Purchasing
Responsibilities:
Division director responsible for all purchasing and logistics

International Experience

Years Country / Region Summary
Years: 1978 to 1982 Country / Region: Europe and Asia Summary: He traveled every six-months to Europe or Asia as the chairman of the ANSI TC 149 U.S. delegaton to ISO TC 149 Committee meetings to work on development of international standards for bicycles and components.
Years: 1983 to 1990 Country / Region: Japan, Taiwan, China and Europe Summary: He traveled at least ten-times per year to Japan, Taiwan, China and Europe leading Schwinn Bicycle Company purchasing teams that were responsible for buying parts, accessories and rubber for aftermarket sales, OEM components for domestic production at the Schwinn plant in Greenville, Mississippi and complete bicycles and fitness equipment for Schwinns distribution system to sell to the companies authorized dealers.

Additional Experience

Training / Seminars
Specialty Bicycle Retail Education Course: The Total Comfort Retail - Customer Service Process. Complete 12-month course for retail managers and employees presented in four sections: Owner's & Managers; Customer Service Professionals; Environment - the store; The Customer.
Vendor Selection
Expert has created and managed product development and sourcing programs and projects for clients interested in having their bicycle industry related IP or products sourced in Asia. He has also developed trading company and logistics relationships in Taiwan for clients in the bicycle business.
Marketing Experience
Expert researches and writes an annual U.S. Bicycle Market Overview Report for the National Bicycle Dealers Association that covers all aspects of available data and statistics on the U.S. bicycle industry and business including: import / export statistics and bicycle riding participation statistics.

Fields of Expertise

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