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As vice president and general manager of the Nike German Alpine Region, Bert Hoyt is responsible for making Nike the compelling sports brand in a region that encompasses Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Slovania. Nike combines these four countries into a single region because the consumer, for the most part, shares the same language and all four countries share similar retail landscapes.
Bert has also served as vice president of commerce EMEA, in charge of the development and management of all Nike sales and retail operations in EMEA, Nike’s second largest region with revenues of $4 billion. Under Bert’s leadership, Nike realigned its 860-member sales team on both a regional and country-by-country basis to better serve the specific sports areas in which Nike wants to be successful. Nike also upgraded its overall retail presentation in the EMEA region, opened numerous franchise and concept stores and elevated its shop-and-shop format.
Before joining Nike, Bert worked for Puma from 1989 to 1998. He served as product manager for tennis at Puma headquarters in Germany, and then became footwear business director. He later served as general manager for international sales and product marketing.
A talented tennis professional, Bert left after his first year of university to turn professional. He played professional tennis on the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) tour from 1977 to 1984, with the highest ranking of 150 in singles and 120 in doubles. Bert has been a member of the ATP since 1977. Bert enjoys playing and watching tennis and golf, and watching both European and American football. He also enjoys reading, going to the movies and spending time with his family and his three-year-old daughter, Nelia.
The defining moment in sports for Bert was making a comeback and beating the German tennis champions while playing doubles in the first division of German tennis. Bert and his doubles partner were down by one set and saved eight match points before winning. Hard fighting, luck and just a tremendous atmosphere of 3,000 screaming fans helped us to turn things around, he said. We were just able to make some incredible saves and gain some momentum, and then the tide started to turn. But it was nail-biting right down to the very end. | 