Kattus the new U.S. Campy man

After 23 years of husbandry by Richard Storino, Campagnolo has chosen well-traveled bike industry exec Tom Kattus to take its North American-based sales and marketing into the future.

Those in the triathlon sector of the bike biz will know Kattus. His most recent position was VP Global Sales for Zoot Sports. Kattus was instrumental in building the brand from a provincial, ill-distributed niche-of-a-niche to a leading tri and bike apparel manufacturer.

Kattus eventually worked his way out of a job at Zoot, which was widely seen by insiders as having positioned itself for acquisition. According to multiple sources inside Zoot, last year the company was close to a deal to be acquired by footwear maker K-Swiss. That never materialized, but by then Kattus was networking his way toward his eventual position with Campy.

Prior to Zoot Kattus was a VP at Cannondale, overseeing that brand's North American sales. He worked his way up from regional sales rep at C'dale, and his roots are in sales, having previously been a rep for Quintana Roo and other brands during the 90s. Eleanora Kattus, Tom's wife, was a key front office employee at QR's San Diego headquarters during that time.

"This is my dream job!" said Kattus, as it would be for any true ciclophile. Today he leaves Campy USA's North San Diego County's headquarters for 3 weeks. He'll be in Fiji tonight for his annual surf trip (he may bump into Zoot's competitor Emilio De Soto, who is also there surfing this week). Then he's off to Italy for a week.

After leaving Italy he'll fly to several of Campy's North American Distributors. Kattus will enter sales meetings with the likes of SBA, Quality, Ochsner and Sinclair with a full reservoir of goodwill. His friendly and service-oriented demeanor represents a new posture for this Vicenza, Italy-based brand, which has a reputation in the U.S. for making exceptional products, backed by a less-helpful approach to issues like delivery, warranty, and ease of use by OEMs.

Did the Italian component icon intend to project a more helpful and friendly corporate face when it chose its new U.S. General Manager? Campagnolo NA's president, Angelo Caccia, specifically cited Kattus' "reputation in the industry, and his excellent attitude, demeanor and integrity." So, perhaps it did.

What will this mean for Campagnolo's penetration in triathlon? Campy can't have postured itself worse in multisport than it has over the past two decades, at least in North America. Kattus ties to multisport, and his easy demeanor, at least allow for a door into triathlon through which Campy might enter. But with SRAM's powerful set of multisport-friendly component options and robust stable of pro triathletes, as well as Shimano's established hegemony in this sport, Kattus will have his work cut out for him.