Neil Merry: Neil's raced every kind of sport since he started in school boy motor cross through to his current passion for historic car racing. Neil started his career in the car industry before joining the family bicycle business. Neil is joint MD (with brother Russell) of the Cycling Sports Group UK office based in Poole. Neil tends to focus more on budgetary issues and forecasting as part of the overall business management function. Neil was a partner in Hot Wheels prior to the sale to Dorel in September 2009. Neil's current bikes are a Mongoose Sabrosa, GT Zaskar, Charge Mixer and a Strida folding bike, he rides to work (when commitments allow) as part of a general fitness routine.
Russell Merry: Russell joined the Hot Wheels business from a career in retail management. Neil and Russell are the joint decision makers at CSG UK and between them had built the business up from a small shop in Bournemouth started by their father Graham to the 35 employee international distribution operation prior to the sale to Dorel. Russell's main focus is the sales/marketing side of CSG. Russell is a council member of the Bicycle Association of Great Britain and a board member of Bike Hub which distributes industry funds to cycling advocacy projects. Russell's current bikes are a Cannondale Synapse, A Mongoose Canaan, a GT 24" BMX cruiser and a Strida folding bike.
Ian Wagman: Ian is our Business Development Manager. He started as a sales person back in the days when Hotwheels (now CSG UK) was a shop and has been the London rep, Midlands Rep and the South West rep in the years previous to evolving into his current position. As well as looking after some of the biggest customers such as Center Parcs he's also in charge of looking for new opportunities to expand the business. Ian rides a Mongoose Canaan Team and a Carbon GTR.
Jon Watson: Northern area rep. Jon looks after an entire country! As well as the north of England he's the Scotland rep as well. He's also the most successful racer working for CSG UK and has been a sponsored cross-country and cyclo-cross rider for many companies over the years.
Jon is now representing the Charge team in racing CX, road and XC as well as selling the
brand to his customers.
Paul Ratcliffe: Paul is our Midlands area representative. He's worked in the industry for many years and knows his stuff having raced since an early age. He's a huge fan of professional road cycling,
a keen rider, and an even keener salesman!
Adam Walsh: Adam came to us from another well known distributor as we integrated Cannondale into the CSG portfolio. Dave Page was made the southern area rep for Cannondale leaving an opportunity for Adam to represent the legacy brands (GT, Mongoose, Charge, WeThePeople)
in the South East/London.
Gary Adcock: Gary joined at roughly the same time as Adam, again he came to us from another well known distributor and has filled the South West area legacy rep vacancy left by Ashley Clark who is now based in the office as the Product Manager. Gary is an enthusiastic sales person with an endearing personality lending itself well to great customer service.
Dave Page: Dave is our Cannondale Rep for Southern UK. He's been with us for around 8 years, started in tele-sales, and was then sent out on the road. He started out locally, then the South West then finally the South East/London where he was representing the CSG UK Legacy brands.
He has taken up the Cannondale mantra very quickly and now has a fleet of Cannondale's
that
he rides as well as sells including a Capo, an RZ-X and a Flash.
Stephen Howes: Before the integration of Cannondale into CSG UK, Stephen was the northern area rep for the brand, he continues to be the northern area rep for Cannondale as we found him to be one of the hidden gems of the old company and now with the added buying power that the new CSG UK brings to his former efforts he has been able to grow that side of the business quickly.
Adam Savill: Adam is our Office Sales Supervisor and looks after the telesales team. He has been with us for over 3 years now and has good knowledge on the BMX brands that we do and will occasionally help Chris (BMX Team Manager) out with supplying parts to the BMX team. A fan of football, music and a spectator of BMX, these days Adam prefers to participate in front of HD TV.
James Cruickshank: James moved down from Bromley (South London) in February 2010 after moving to Poole from the capital. He was working in a Cycle Shop in Bromley before the big move to the south coast. James part of the telesales team, takes calls on orders and answers sales emails, along with doing a number of other duties. He is a massive football fan and follows Charlton Athletic all over the country, I’m sure it won’t be to long until they are back in the Premiership! He is also part of the England supporters club and goes to Wembley for home matches and has travelled to Croatia for a World Cup Qualifier. James also loves running and has completed many half marathons and in April 2010 completed his first ever Marathon in Brighton in 3hrs 48 mins, he wants to do his home town Marathon in London 2011 as he has never ran London. James has also completed many road rides across the country including, (West to East) Southport to Hull and Exeter to London. He might miss London, but it’s such a relaxed way of life in Poole compared to a 24 hour city for 52 weeks of the year.
Simon Burch: Simon joins Cycling Sports Group on the front line of the sales/ customer support team. Whilst studying Graphic Design at university, Simon developed an interest in bikes of all sorts, working part time in bike sales and maintenance. He likes to make the most of all situations and is torn between buying a road bike or another hard tail. When not riding or working, Simon enjoys scuba diving off UK coastal waters and more exotic destinations when he gets the opportunity.
Carl Brooker: Carl Brooker has joined CSG UK on its busy telesales team. Brooker is 23 years old and formerly worked in his local Halfords store. As a keen road cyclist, CSG UK's latest recruit has taken part in a number of charity rides and raised money for Macmillan Cancer Support Fund. Brooker is a bit of a train buff, likes diesel/electric engines and travels all over the UK, but he tells his colleagues that a 'track basher' is a lot different to a train spotter because he doesn't keep a record of the numbers.
Jon Faulkner: Jon is another new addition to the telesales team. Jon has previous experience in the telesales office here before CSG UK was formed and has now re-joined us as we look to expand our services. Jon has a long list of interests outside of work but is very keen on his cars and maintains them himself to near concourse standard (except for the rust above the wheel arch!) He's also a good bike rider, throwing himself off everything with next to no fear.
Jethro Loader: Jethro started in telesales and now looks after the B2B site. He has a bike for almost every discipline of cycling imaginable, just a few more needed to complete the collection! Jethro will rarely turn down a ride, and was once convinced to cycle to Africa!
Ash Clarke: Ashley has been with the company for 6 years now, starting in telesales he was
quickly made the South West area rep. This year has seen him dive head first into the role of Product Manager and is charge of ensuring all products fit the requirements of the UK market.
With his experience as a rep, he knows exactly what our dealers need from their products, this experience will be invaluable in his new position and his strong personality has already shown benefits in building relationships with the individual brand mangers and product managers
of each company we deal with.
Matt Farrow: Matt has worked in the company since 1983 making him the longest serving member of the team. His official title of Operations Manager almost belittles the amount of things Matt does, he’s in charge of P&A ordering, what comes in, what goes out, where it comes from as well as handling contracts for the vehicle fleet, staff mobile phones and freight & logistics companies etc. Matt currently rides a Cannondale Quick CX and owns numerous Old School BMX bikes.
Chris McArdle: Chris is in charge of everything BMX at CSG UK. He liaises with the brands giving them information on how the market is going, what they can improve on for the UK and what the current trends are. He’s also the BMX team manager responsible for sponsoring the right riders and coming up with ideas for photo/ video shoots. He rides a WeThePeople and can regularly be seen at Blandford skate park practicing his flat spin 900s.
James Hoppe: James is our very talented senior graphic and web designer and works closely with Nick Larsen and Mike Cotty on delivering fantastic adverts, up to date websites and point of sale material amongst other things. James is a very keen cross-country racer on his Charge Duster Ti and has recently joined the masses as a road racer!
Jimmy Browning: Jimmy has joined us from a very successful, local surf wear brand, working closely with James on graphics across the brands, mainly bmx focused, being a keen bmxer.
He is also known as "Who is this kid?", a UK exclusive Oakley artist, having designed his own Oakley "Who is this kid?" sun glasses.
Rob Knowles: Rob is another recent acquisition of CSG UK and is working as a graphic designer in the graphics dept. Outside of work Rob is an avid supporter of AFC Bournemouth and also plays football. He also enjoys movies, music gigs and keeping himself fit at the gym.
Mike Cotty: With over a decade of European and Global brand management experience, Michael leads the charge as Marketing Manager for Cycling Sports Group UK. Competing in all disciplines from cyclocross in the winter through to XC and road racing in the summer, Michael's best known for his endurance riding both on the road and the dirt.
James Champion: Sports Marketing co-ordinator. James started at CSG (formerly Hotwheels) over 7 years ago as a warehouse assistant but is now involved in supporting Mike and Nick with their marketing strategies for the brands whether that's planning and executing events, supporting team riders or arranging magazine tests and any other media. Outside of work James is a qualified Hockey coach and plays at a regional level.
Nick Larsen: Head honcho for Charge bikes, Nick Larsen is a busy man. Pushing Charge forward including designing, promoting and managing the bikes and brand takes up most of his time and testing, riding and enjoying the bikes and products he designs takes up the rest.
Neil Cousins: Neil has recently joined us as the Charge business has grown, working from the Charge Bikes office in Frome with Nick means he has a direct line of communication with the main man enabling him to efficiently co-ordinate the global distributors as well as general running of the office there.
Allison Carter: Allison is our Accounts Manager overseeing all the back o ffice functions of the business. She’s a valued and experienced member of the team and keeps all of our spending in check! She rides a GT Avalanche and looks very fetching in her new waterproof jacket!
Mark Broughton : Mark is our Finance Manager, heading up the Accounts team.
He is a Chartered Accountant, having trained with KPMG and worked with a wide variety of clients, from small owner managed businesses right up to listed PLCs. More recently he has worked for a local firm of accountants before making the move to Industry with the Cycling Sports Group.
His responsibilities include financial reporting, budgeting and forecasting, cash flow management and working with Neil and Russell in the day to day management of the business. Outside of work, Mark plays league badminton and at weekends can be seen in the slow lane in his VW camper.
He is also a big rugby fan and when time allows he rides a GT Zaskar.
Damian Morris: Damian monitor's production and works closely with Neil in respect to buying.
He has previously worked as a systems analyst for a computer company, a materials manager for a private hospital and made the move to Dorset 7 years ago from his home town of Doncaster. Damian is one of the most active cyclists amongst the staff riding to work in all weathers and every weekend.
Sharon Luker: Credit control manager. Sharon is in charge of the company debt, chasing up everyone for their money, paying all overseas suppliers and managing the accounts office. If you don't pay your invoices she's also the person you have to answer to!
Lauren Harder: Purchase ledger clerk. As well as being super efficient in the office she's a competitive fitness fanatic and spends hours in the gym, she's the fastest female runner over 3km at her gym! When she's not running, she's either spending quality time with her husband or she's out with her girls, shopping, having lunch or more likely a few "social" drinks.
Sharon Wyatt: Purchase ledger clerk. Sharon is in the purchasing end of the office which means she's directly involved with keeping on top of what we're buying and making sure we've paid our suppliers and that we're not over paying them! Sharon has an NVQ level 3 in accounting.
Victoria Littlejohns: Victoria works with Alastair as one of our Sales Ledger Clerks meaning between them they are the most likely to be on the end of the phone when you have an accounts query. Despite being the smallest member of the accounts team she can be found Wakeboarding her way round Swanage harbour most weekends!
Alastair Graham: As well as his sales ledger duties Alastair can regularly be found chasing up all reps and other credit card holders for their outstanding receipts which can be a mammoth task leading up to the end of month! Outside of work, Alastair is a trance DJ, raving it up since the 90's!
Ben Winter: Ben deals personally with every single warranty claim and manufacture issue that comes by us. Ben is a hardcore rider having been a mountain biker for as long as he can remember. Despite breaking his back several years ago he's still pushing it on his Duster
and Teocali!
Logan Argent: Logan has been with us for a few years now, starting in telesales, moving into the workshop. Now he is our UK Technical Manager, where he is taking in and learning every nut and bolt and as much technical information as possible to aid you in your technical needs.
He currently rides a bit of XC and Cyclocross every now and then, other interests are Fly fishing
for record breaking trout and Salmon!
Adrian Lees: Adrian comes from a retail background and has been on both ends of the phone. Starting in telesales he has know moved onto a role in the warranty dept as customer service liaison. He has been riding for around 15yrs, mostly XC and looks forward to getting onto a shiny new Charge Duster as soon as possible. Outside of the cycling world, he enjoys HiFi and Home Cinema. If only allowed to listen to one artist for the rest of his life, it'd be Metallica.
Just don't ask him to choose his favourite movie!
Thomas Mconnell: Tom has a degree in mechanical engineering from Exeter university and is in control of all workshop goings on. Tom is also a retained fire-fighter having recently qualified.
Richard Perrett: Richard supervises everything going on in the warehouse. Prioritising incoming and outgoing deliveries, managing of stock, and making sure all the bikes go out as soon as possible. He's been here for over 9 years and in that time has worked in three locations.
Richard rides a Charge Mixer, when it's not raining!
Lorna Lambert: A stalwart in the warehouse, Lorna’s one of the most experienced members of the warehouse team and is also in charge of booking in all deliveries. The only female member of the warehouse team, she still shifts more bikes than most of the guys. She rides a GT I-Drive 5 1.0.
Rob Glennie: Rob is the back bone of the warehouse and chips in with all duties.
He receives deliveries, packs parcels and is the man primarily in charge of returns and remote collections.
If you have a question on training or nutrition he's your man as he hits the gym most days
before work!
Chris Wills: Warehouse assistant, Chris is one of the few people qualified to use the new fork lift and is a very efficient hard working member of the warehouse team. Chris rides a Curtis MX24 at Wisley and Winchester dirt jumps, loves drinking energy drinks and eating junk food.
Also works with Logan in the Workshop team.