SportsArt double-digit growth spawns hires

Coming off a 41-percent sales growth in 2002 and forecasting another double-digit year for 2003, SportsArt America is hiring, including familiar faces the industry knows from other companies.

In a letter to its dealers a week ago, the company revealed these changes, as well as the news about company growth “despite continuing mixed economic news.”

“The marketplace is accepting our new commercial products well,” Scott Logan, SportsArt director of marketing, told SNEWS. “That’s fueled the growth. And our retail products deliver a lot of value and innovation for the money. It’s a product-driven industry, and the growth is the market responding to our products.

“The growth has allowed us to restructure our sales staff and our sales efforts,” Logan added.

As a part of the rash of hires and job changes, SportsArt tracked down one former fitness company employee who had left the industry and tapped other companies for several others:

>> Terry Provonsha, who started June 1, will be the western regional sales retail manager. Provonsha spent more than 12 years at Precor on two different stints, but has been working outside the industry for the last couple of years. Based out of the main office in Woodinville, Wash., he will also manage retail and commercial products in Canada for SportsArt.
>> John Price, who also started June 1, will be the Midwest retail and commercial products sales manager. He was most recently with Bodyguard, and has also worked with both Woodway and retailer Fitness Showcase. Price will work in a Kansas City office.
>> Joan Davison, who starts June 30, will take over as the retail products sales manager in the eastern region. She was most recently with ProSpot, and has also worked with Cybex, and Reebok/CCS.
>> John Hulit, formerly the company’s western region sales manager, has been named to the newly created position of director of new market sales, a position that will focus on sales outside of the traditional specialty channels, including the medical arena.
>> Kourtney Kerr, with SportsArt for some five years, will take over as the commercial products manager for the eastern region.
>> Eddie Strauser will be the commercial products regional sales manager for the west.

But not all are coming to SportsArt: Brian Williams, formerly the company’s eastern manager, will leave to take a job as a regional manager at Hoist on July 1.