GARED Holdings Transfers Ownership to Management Team in Buy-Out Acquisition

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

GARED Holdings Transfers Ownership to Management Team in Buy-Out Acquisition

Managing partners responsibilities are as follows: Kevin Needler named CEO, President; Mary Witte named CFO; Don Carle named Executive Vice President of Performance Sports Systems; Laura St. George named Executive Vice President of GARED North America.

NOBLESVLLE, INDIANA, JANUARY 6, 2017 - GARED Holdings is pleased to announce plans to transfer ownership to management effective December 30, 2016through transaction with Gen Cap America.

Dimitrios Koukoulomatis and John Duggins have served as the company's ownership since 1997. Since purchasing the GARED Holdings Company, they strategically rebuilt two faltering legacy companies, Performance Sports Systems (PSS) and GARED Sports (GARED) to their current success. A key component of the rebuild was the development of a leadership team that has been involved with the company for a combined 65 years.

GARED Holdings are pleased to announce the new ownership team and their corporate responsibilities. Kevin Needler will succeed Dimitrios Koukoulomatis as CEO and president of GARED Holdings. Kevin has been a member of the management team since 2002. He joined the GARED Holdings team as operations specialist and was named General Manager in May of 2016. Mary Witte will succeed John Duggins as CFO of GARED Holdings after serving as the company's Controller for the past several years. Don Carle will continue his expertise as Vice President of Sales for Performance Sports Systems. Laura St. George will continue as Vice President of Sales and Marketing for GARED North America. Dimitrios and John will continue as consultants to ensure smooth transition of ownership. Through their mentorship, the leadership team is now prepared to take GARED Holdings to the next level building on the business principals and best practices while maintaining consistency expected from dealer base and market.

"We had many opportunities to sell within the industry for many years, but we wanted to ensure our employees would continue to benefit from the work invested. We chose to offer the management team buy-out option as the best way to reward our leadership team for loyalty and exceptional performance." - Dimitrios Koukoulomatis, outgoing CEO of GARED Holdings.

"The company employs energetic and dedicated people led by an experienced management team and we have an excellent strategy to continue to develop and strengthen our existing and future channels of distribution and customer base. The market opportunities available to the company are significant and we look forward to taking full advantage of them." - Kevin Needler, CEO and President

"When presented with the opportunity to not only to continue to guide GARED to celebration of its 100th birthday as a leading sporting goods manufacturer, the excitement was overwhelming. We have been trending with exceptional growth over the past 10 years and I look forward to continuing to build our dealer base foundation and footprint of GARED North America as a managing partner." - Laura St. George, Executive Vice President, Managing Partner

About GARED North America

GARED Holdings, LLC a leading manufacturer and marketer of athletic equipment and custom design solutions to schools and other institutions.

GARED^® services the after-market, retail, and custom gymnasium structure markets, and have become the leader in innovative product design, precision engineering, and premium manufacturing of sports equipment. Our centrally located manufacturing and warehouse facilities, and new state-of-the-art powder coating operation in Noblesville, Indiana have enabled us to offer our customers shorter lead times and more economical shipping costs. We sell our products through a trusted network of dealers across the United States and around the world.

GARED^® is a supporting member of many prominent domestic organizations as well as international governing bodies for sports. In addition, our products meet the safety guidelines of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), and we continually strive to lower our carbon footprint through sustainable design and recycling of raw materials.

Much has changed in sports over the years since our establishment in 1922. Games are now faster, more intense, and competitive. As the games have changed, GARED^® has met these challenges, by constantly improving the design, strength and durability of our sports equipment. We continue to build on past expertise while shaping the future of the sports that we serve. Our sports equipment is found in a variety of venues; in pro-arenas and universities across the world, school yards, parks, high school gymnasiums, both in big cities and small towns, and in the driveways and home courts of people who recognize the value of reliability and product quality.

Media Contact

Laura St. George

Executive Vice President of Sales & Marketing, GARED Holdings

Phone: (800) 325-2682
Email address: marketing@garedsports.com