Reebok MD gets Europe posting

Another Indian has moved up the multinational hierarchy. Siddhartha Verma, managing director of Reebok India, is moving to Rotterdam as in-charge of marketing for Reebok's European operations.

Verma will be responsible for markets such as Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the UK. He will report to the Reebok regional director for Europe.

Subhinder Singh, the current head of marketing at Reebok India, is stepping into Verma's shoes. Both Verma and Singh confirmed the development. "I will relocate to Rotterdam next month as vice-president (marketing) for Europe," Verma said.

The Boston-based footwear and apparel major actively considers India as a global talent pool. Verma is the fifth Indian to move to the company's global positions. The first Indian to have moved to the company's global operations was Muktesh Pant who took over as the chief marketing officer of Reebok Worldwide.

Recently, Harpreet Singh Thind, marketing manager at Reebok India, joined the company's regional headquarters at Hong Kong as marketing director (Asia Pacific), while Dhruv Parashar, in-charge of the retail environment in India, took over as the head of retail operations, Asia Pacific. Johnny John, the former apparel head for Reebok India had also moved to Hong Kong in the same capacity some time back.

Reebok set up shop in the country in 1995 and achieved break-even in 1999. Verma joined Reebok in 1996 as general manager (marketing) as a part of the start-up team and in 1997 became the director for sales and marketing. After a brief stint as marketing director for Africa and West Asia, he took over as the managing director for Reebok India in 1999. Before Reebok, he worked with ITC.

Verma had also joined the board of Timex Watches Ltd an year ago as a prelude to the company launching Reebok watches in the country.

Reebok sources added that while the US accounts for 45 per cent of the total turnover of Reebok Worldwide, the remaining 55 per cent comes from the global markets. India has emerged as a key market outside the US where Reebok has established itself as the number one brand.