Boardriders puts Nicolas Foulet in charge of EMEA

By

Olivier Guyot

Translated by
Nicola Mira

Published
Sep 6, 2021

A French manager is once again in charge of the Boardriders group in the EMEA region. Nicolas Foulet, 44, formerly the group’s chief information officer, has been appointed president of the Europe, Middle East and Africa region for the US board sport group.

Boardriders, owner of Quiksilver, Billabong, RVCA, Element, DC Shoes and Von Zipper, named Arne Arens as its new group CEO last March. Arens, formerly head of The North Face for the VF Corp. group, took charge and began to deploy his strategy, with the blessing of Boardriders’ owner Oaktree Capital.

Arens was convinced that the EMEA region needed a dedicated president. Since 2019 and the departure of former general manager Thomas Chambolle, Boardriders’ EMEA region, whose headquarters are located at Saint-Jean-de-Luz on the French Basque coast, had been overseen by Greg Healy, president of the Asia-Pacific region.

Foulet, a keen skier and surfer, will tap his digital and e-commerce expertise and his in-depth knowledge of the corporation where he has been working for over 20 years. Until 2007, Foulet was general manager of the global technical division (eyewear, watches and surf and mountain gear) for the legacy Quiksilver organization. He then headed the marketing department of Quiksilver EMEA until 2011, before taking charge of e-commerce and digital marketing, until 2013 for the EMEA region, and later at group level as senior vice-president.

“I’m delighted to be taking charge of the EMEA region at a key moment in Boardriders’ history. In the last few years, the group has built a unique powerhouse in the action sport and outdoor markets, by bringing together a series of iconic brands without undermining their authenticity. Our mission today is to enable our brands to fulfil their potential on the European market, in a buoyant environment where the activities for which we operate, such as surfing and skateboarding, are hugely popular,” said Foulet. “Our objective is also to accelerate the evolution of our business model in the face of the change that is taking place, at the digital, operational and environmental level,” he added.

In Europe, in the last two years, heavily marked by the Covid-19 pandemic, the group has managed to integrate the Quiksilver and Billabong staff at the Saint-Jean-de-Luz headquarters. Foulet’s mission will certainly be to continue the group’s transition towards an omni-channel model, but also to enable each brand to deploy effectively on the EMEA market.