Short list for CCA Marketing Spot

Uboat

In my view, here are a few names that should be tossed around that are currently in cycling. Thoughts? This is great news for cycling in Canada that the CCA are moving ahead with this, and that there is change there.

Kris Westwood
Leigh Hargrove
Patrick Van Den Wille
Mark Cunningham
Steve Merker
Louis Barbeau
Daniel Larouche

The Canadian Cycling Association, the national governing body for the sport of cycling in Canada, is seeking a full-time Director of Marketing to direct the organization’s overall marketing and sales program and take a lead role in the development of effective merchandising and licensing strategies.

The successful candidate will:
- Plan and direct the organization’s activities to achieve stated/agreed targets
- Develop and execute annual marketing plans/strategies for the association
- Enhance existing client relationships through client development activities and special projects
Identify new business/sponsorship opportunities and work with the Chief Operating Officer and/or outside agencies to develop licensing and merchandising strategies
- Coordinate fundraising activities and public events, as appropriate
- Negotiate contractual agreements with sponsors and suppliers
- Manage the association’s web site and e-commerce program
- Direct the association’s RFP protocol process and lead client presentations and sales pitches
- Make staffing and hiring recommendations/decisions within the Marketing Operations department

The ideal candidate will have in-depth knowledge of corporate marketing and be able to demonstrate a proven track record of successfully and profitably managing a company department or similar-type business unit. The CCA is looking for a self-starter with strong consensus building abilities, effective interpersonal skills and experience in marketing PR. Post-secondary education in Marketing or Commerce required. Bilingualism and experience in cycling and the private sector preferred.

Salary is commensurate with experience. Applications with a resume will be accepted at the address below by June 1, 2005.

Canadian Cycling Association
2197 Riverside Drive, Suite 702
Ottawa, Ontario K1H 7S3
c/o Marketing Director Selection Committee
Fax: (613) 248-9311
Email: general@canadian-cycling.com

We thank all applicants but only those invited for an interview will be contacted. No phone calls please. This position is made possible with financial support from the Government of Canada

Eddie Arzouian

Your list is very incomplete and flawed.


Louis Barbeau will never leave Quebec and his work with Paraolympics.

Steve Mercker is the Executive Director of OCA, why would he leave the top spot inToronto to go to a lesser job in Ottawa, walking away from about three years of his plans and project?

Kris Westwood is already at the CCA. I do not think he is going to leave athlete development and coaching which he is well suited for to take on marketing for which he is not.

Patrcik Van de Wile has never done anything in cycling except write on it as a spectator. He said so himself, "Whoa boy, I think it's silly to say I have better knowledge of cycling than Ed (Arzouian). My own list of racing accomplishments is very, very scarce (though I did win one of the two races I entered, riding Chris Firek's too-tall bike and dressed up in the Ultramar Bear suit for the celebrity race). My only claim is spectator- and journalist-side. Patrik Van de Wille Posted on Pedal: Tue Feb 01, 2005 1:07 am

and "I've said many times that I'm no expert myself that would make me right in my comment. And my comments are simply opinions, offered as such. " Patrick Van de Wille posted on Pedal.

Patrick Van de Wille has never even negotiated one sponsorship agreement in cycling (I guess that would qualify him to be a CCA President), never coached, never ran a team, never worked for a federation or association, never worked in the cycling industry. The CCA has enough people already with no practical cycling experience. They do not need more.


As for your other three suggestions, they still have some work to do before they are ready. Johnny Carson had a group called the "Not-ready-for-primetime-players".

Uboat

Ok, well I appreciate your input. Who would you suggest? Do you have a shortlist of say 5 people?

Eddie Arzouian

My list is much shorter:


1. Me

Uboat

But from what I see here you are pretty mean to them, and I'm not sure that will help to a potential employer! And plus, your spelling is bad! Ha, Ha! You can't be a marketing guy with your spelling and grammar! Attention to detail is key!

Have you sent your CV in? You never know, I suppose.

Uboat

But in all seriousness, who else? I can't believe there is only one person in the world that can have this job. Who else do you think would suit it?

Uboat

Eddie Arzouian

Oh, sorry , did you mean Cunningham(s), the Symmetrics guy???

My mistake there about being a not-ready-for primetime player, he is already a primetime player.

He has his own very succesful business(es) to run ( I get the two brothers mixed up, I have never met them only exchanged emails). He is not going to work for the CCA. He also has his own team. That would be a conflict.

As for Van de wille, I did not include his own words for nothing. He has very little practical expeience in the sport (he admitted it) and has never dealt with sponsorship at all. Yeah, sure he wrote some PR stuff, big difference than putting together deals.

Sure, I sent in my resume here it is:

Sport:

2003 Hamilton 2003 – Competition Coordinator, Canadian National Road Cycling Championships and World Road Championships. Hamilton , ON.

1999(Sept. 2- 12) Tour Trans Canada - Assisted in media relations and acted as a direct media liaison looking after the daily needs of journalist, media personalities and VIPs throughout the international cycling stage race from Quebec City to Niagara Falls, ON.

1999 Women’s World Cup Montreal/ Director. Handled all aspects of presenting this international cycling event, including sponsorship, promotions, logistics and communications and media relations.

1999-97 Fédération Auto-Québec/ Sponsorship research. Coordinated and assisted the Federation in finding and managing sponsorships for their 1998 Ice Racing Championship Series. Also reported on the entire series for The Gazette.

1997 Shaklee Professional Cycling Team, Palo Alto, CA/ Manager, Men’s road team. Handled most aspects of managing the team from promotional work and travel coordinating to team strategies during races.

1996 MAVIC Race Service, Quebec. Assisted Outdoor Gear Canada in launching the race service, including negotiating the deal with BMW for a motorcycle and piloting the moto during events.

1988-1993 Club Cycliste de Montreal (Evian and Reynolds/Volkswagen teams), Montreal, QC./Co- founder and manager of Canada's only professional cycling team. Handled all aspects of the team from sponsorship research to hiring riders and media relations.

1988 Caandian Cycling Association. Project Manager, Managed the Canadian national team at Coors Light Whaling City Classic Stage race.

1987 Le Club Medico Sportif, NDG, Montreal, Sales consultant, fitness instructor.

1985 Nautilus Plus, Montreal, Ste-Catherine Street., Fitness Instructor.



Community and Corporate:

2002 College superieure de Montreal , Teacher, English business correspondence and translation (French to English) to adult Francophone and Allophone students.

2001 (June–Sept.) Human Resources Development Canada (HRDC) contracted to assist in the preparation of a community youth centre.

2000-2001 Chateauguay Valley English Speaking Peoples Association (CVESPA) Executive Director. Handled all daily administration, media and public relations. Coordinated funding applications to Canadian Heritage.

2000 -’99 TechQuebec.com - Assisted in the Internet start-up of a business-to-business web site focusing on the IT industry in Quebec, and employment services for it. Handled sales, marketing, public relations and some site architecture.

1998 (contractual) MRC du Haut St. Laurent/ Sponsorship research & technical consultant for CycloPomme, a family-oriented bicycle tour organized by regional municipalities. Assisted in developing and promoting the event.

1996-93 Hardt Equipment Inc., Lachine, QC./ Special Projects coordinator R&D, Purchaser, in rotisserie manufacturing. Product development, developed computerized parts numbering, inventory system and BOMs (bill of materials). Began development of U.S. national service network. Handled some promotional & marketing work.

1994(June/July) Van de Water-Raymond, Laval, QC./ Snapple beverage promotions coordinator.

1988 Outdoor Gear Canada (OGC), St. Laurent. Handled inventory and shipping of bicycles and accessories.



Journalism and Media Relations:

2004 Les Edition Andre Pomerleau – Sales and Editorial work, The Free Borders Newspaper and L’Impact. Valleyfield, QC

2002 Comments& Op-Ed printed in The Dallas Morning News, The Austin Statesman, The Atlanta Constitution Journal, The Ottawa Citizen, The Winnipeg Free Press, USA Today and The Montreal Gazette on numerous topics.

2000 Wrote a weekly political column for The (Montreal) Suburban. Circulation 101,000 homes. BTW They are running an op-ed piece of mine this week, May 17, 2005

1999 (Mar. to June) Handled all press releases and media relations for Women’s World Cup Road Race Montreal. One of only nine such events in the world sanctioned by the Union Cycliste Internationale. Attendance 40,000+, staff 300 (30 part-time paid, more than 250 volunteers)

1999 (Feb & March) Covered winter auto racing for The Gazette, Montreal.

1993-88 Handled all press releases for Canada's only professional cycling team which included five Olympic athletes. Filed stories over modem (in ’88 before most people knew what they were) from across North America and Europe. Submitted photos, articles and editorials to most major cycling publications such as VeloNews, Bicycling and Winning in the U.S. and Pedal Magazine, VeloMag, Canadian Cyclist in Canada. Also handled radio and television reports. Personally appeared in numerous interviews, including a three, 30 minute live phone-in television talk shows (Montreal AM Live with Leslie Roberts, tapes available) . Coordinated cycling coverage, and submitted reports and features regularly to The Montreal Gazette. Jack Romanelli, editor. couple hundred stories

1990-88 Filed over 100 stories with The Montreal Gazette, on a two or three per week basis. Pat Hickey, editor.

1983-82 Photo Editor, The McGill Daily, McGill University, Montreal.

1983 (May & June) AP, Washington DC. Worked full-time on Wirephoto desk co-ordinating all photos originating from southeast U.S. and controlled all traffic incoming from NY office.

1982 Ralph Nader Seminar on Investigative Journalism, Washington, D.C.



Education:

1987-81 McGill University, Montreal, QC./ B.A., Major: North American Studies. Minor: Communications.



Languages: Fluent in English and French, written and spoken. An understanding of basic Spanish.



Interests: Bicycling (US Olympic Development Team, Colorado Springs ’85, ’86, ’87, Quebec Provincial Team ’84-’87, Bronze medal CDN Nat’l. TTT Champ ’86. A number of Provincial Road & Track Championships ’75 to ’87) Motorcycling, Cross-Country Skiing, Boardsailing, In-line Skating, Woodworking, Billiards & Film.



References available upon request.

BillyBlass

I hope you do not pick over my posts with a fine tooth comb. I was a spelling champ in grade six! I come on the forum for content, not to see high quality writing. Nor would I waste my time correcting myself here.

As for Mr. Arzouian, right now, I cannot think of anyone else more qualified at the moment. He may come across as a bit pushy towards the CCA but someone has to. No one else is. You would have to be crazy to say that the CCA is a well lubed efficient machine, that is for sure. If there is someone out there better qualified, then great, however, EA would know how to get the marketing area up and running fairly quick. You do not get two years to put together teams with comprehensive sponsorship. It has to be done fairly quickly and efficiently to keep everyone's interests (riders and sponsors). Mr. Arzouian’s CV, as you can see, displays that ability. You can smell the death of a project when people have to go and ask "what is happening now?".

Uboat

Hi Ed,

Yes I've seen your resume before here (I think it's been posted at least once) and on the other places where you've been. I don't need to see it again but thanks anyway.

Well, Cunningham would be great I think, but maybe you are right. Good luck in your attempt, and I don't want to come across negative but I don't know how much of a chance (based on my own limited contacts with people at the CCA, and from what I've seen here) because I'm not sure how much they like you? Maybe I'm wrong. Good luck anyway.

Van de Wille

Thanks for the kind mention, though I'm not sure what I've done to deserve it. That being said, and although I'm happy to help the CCA any way I can, there is no way I would ever express interest in the position at the CCA. First of all, I no loonger reside in Canada nor have any plans to do so in the foreseeable future. Second, the position is about ten years lower on the experience scale than where I am, and I would have to take something like a 75% pay cut to do it. Third, I'm a PR/journalism guy, and I think this position needs someone more interested in sponsor service, TV negotiation, and merchanising. I hope someone like that exists who's interested in the job, but as I've said elsewhere, if they existed in canadian cycling we would know them by now.

Anyway, cheerio and thanks again for thinking of me.

Eddie Arzouian

Nice to see Patrick Van de Wille reads this forum now.

I wonder if he will come here to have me banned as he did on Pedal Forum?

He complained when I posted his own words!

Sound crazy? Well, here is proof:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Patty the Lapsed Canuck I agree with ditching him( Ed Arzouian): the "archive" of comments that he finds silly, which he presumably keeps to try to screw me off at every occasion (I can't think of any constructive reason to keep one) is the last straw for me.

Posted: Fri Mar 25, 2005 4:39 am

Patrick is a writer (I'm a PR/journalism guy", he wrote above) but he doesn't want anybody remembering anything he writes! Don't quote anything he writes, he won't like it.

I'm still trying to figure out how reminding the PR/journalism guy of his owns words is "trying to screw" him?

You'd think a PR/journalism guy would be very conscious of what he writes and says, but apparently that isn't the case. Some things we are supposed to take seriously, others we are to forget.

No worries, I don't take anything he writes seriously. Keep in mind this a guy who, while covering san event for Pedal Magazine in the Maritimes, got drunk and decided to go racing bikes nude around a public parking lot. He calls is "letting off steam". I would call it public indecency as would most courts.

This is apparently behaviour condone by Pedal Magazine because Van de Wille is backing "writing" race reports for them. He writes of races taking place in Europe from his home in Illinois. As far as I can tell he isn't crediting anybody for the original reports he is using to write his.

At least we can be thankful Mr. Van de Wille is too good to work in Canadian cycling. We're safe...for now. He doesn't want to live in Canada anymore but that won't stop him from commenting on cycling here.

When was the last time you saw a race in Canada, Paddy?

There's a newspaper here in Canada, Paddy, its advertising slogan was, "anybody can have an opinion but is it informed?"

Come by again, Paddy, and post here since you have had me banned on Pedal for reminding people of your owns words, I cannot go there. Shows you the mindset of Pedal's Editor Benjamin Sadavoy. He and Van de Wile deserve each other.

Uboat

Sir,

I am not sure why you have posted all that. I merely said he would be a good man for the job and he was quite graciously saying he is not up for it or qualified enough.

I don't think it befits someone who thinks he should have this job at the CCA to simply tarnish someone who was not doing the same to you. I presume his post was a one-time thing just to be kind enough to respond to my post about him.
There's no need for the rest of this, and I hope you can stop being so negative and focus on the positive. And also...maybe stop hogging all the posts here!

Good day.

Eddie Arzouian

I find it amusing Van de Wille would have me banned on another site and then come here to post.


As for your comment, "And also...maybe stop hogging all the posts here!", I'm not even sure what that means.

Do I stop anybody for posting anything at all they want? No, of course not. If I have things to say I will post them. You or anybody else does not have to read nor post to the thread. Since about 1000 views went to my post on the National Crit Champs, there is apparently some interest in what I have to say.

Are you now telling me I'm not allowed to post to other people threads when I have something relevant to say?

A short list was posted here. I knew the list was either very incomplete and in some cases simply not reasonable. I said so.

As for Van de Wille, I just do not like the guy. I think he is a poser. He is commenting on Canadian cycling when he hasn't been to a race in this country for five years or more (he would not admit to when he attended a race here last on Pedal). Even when he did go to races here he went mainly to just the big ones. As I said, and he admitted, he never coached, hardly rode, never organized and never worked in the industry, yet none of that stops him from offering his uninformed opinion as gospel. He writes on races in Europe as if he is there but he is writing from the US (except in one recent example it seems). I know few real journalist that would do that. You report on a race, you go to the race.