Lucien Loyens Stepping Aside as POC Australia General Manager
Sydney, NSW
POC Australia has announced its general manager, Lucien Loyens, is leaving the company early next month, after getting the Australian subsidiary up and running.
A statement from the company says Lucien, a veteran of the Australian bicycle industry, will depart POC Australia from the 7th October after overseeing “significant growth in what is a key global market for the Swedish cycling and snowsports brand”.
POC Australia says it will not replace Lucien immediately and POC APAC managing director, Cam Whiting, will step in as its interim country manager.
Lucien joined POC in mid 2020, the company’s second full-time employee in the Asia-Pacific region.
Cam said: “Lucien’s experience, knowledge and drive was crucial to going from zero to a fully operational subsidiary in five months.
“With no means to collaborate in person, 2020 provided an especially challenging backdrop to set up a new subsidiary from scratch. He leaves POC with our sincere thanks and best wishes.”
Lucien’s tenure at the helm of POC Australia included the introduction of consumer-direct shipping to NZ in 2021, through pocsports.com.
In addition, POC Australia’s Sydney warehouse became an important supplementary supply node for distributors in the wider APAC region during the pandemic.
Lucien said POC Australia established itself as a market leader in a very short period “thanks to the efforts of our team, our retailers and our community”
“I believe that even bigger and better things are still to come. It’s always hard to leave a brand you are passionate about, but it’s time to take a long overdue break and holidays,” he said.
Cam said he was looking forward to meeting as many of the company’s retail partners and customers as possible during the coming months, in his role as interim country manager.
“Our APAC team will continue to provide exceptional levels of support to all POC customers in Australia,” he added.
“Lucien leaves us with an excellent foundation to build on.”