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Elliot Gluskin, managing partner of the Gluskin Townley Group has announced that Ben Serotta, former owner and Bill Watkins the former CEO of Serotta Competition Bicycles, have formed a professional consulting alliance.
“Jay Townley and I are very pleased to announce the formation of a consulting alliance with Ben Serotta and Bill Watkins. We are confident our combined individual talents and skill sets will provide enhanced synergistic consulting tools for our current and future clients,” Gluskin said in making the announcement.
Having started his own specialty bicycle retail business at 16 years of age and building his own frames since 1972, Ben Serotta’s 45 years of experience in the bicycle business covers everything from brand definition, crisis management, proper planning, capitalisation, product launches and more.
Serotta has been featured in countless publications and media outlets including CNN, USA Today, Inc. and The Financial Times in addition to countless trade publications. He is frequently featured in International Symposia on Bicycle Fitting.
“We’re honored to be able to align ourselves with the industry’s most accomplished professionals in consulting, making our transition from high-end bicycle fabrication to consulting almost seamless,” Serotta said.
A West Point graduate with eight years of active duty as an engineering officer, Bill Watkins’ entrepreneurial skills sparked him to build a medical device company from his garage to becoming the global leader in its category. At the time Bill sold his stake, Marena operated manufacturing facilities in the USA and Latin America, and exported to over eighty countries. Bill was a member of the US National, US Olympic Development and US Olympic Cycling Long Team. He was Master’s National Criterium Champion in 2011, the same year he switched from cycling consumer to industry insider. Bill worked alongside Ben Serotta as a company consultant and became CEO of Serotta Competition Bicycles in 2012.
“We are looking forward to sharing our expertise as the go-to consultants in our areas of professional knowledge and experience in the bicycle business”, Watkins added.
