MCLEAN, Va. (November 12, 2009) – SnowSports Industries America (SIA) is proud to announce the winners of the 2009 SIA U.S. SnowSports Regional Rep of the Year Award. In its fourth year since inception, this award recognizes those sales reps in the snow sports industry that have successfully cultivated and furthered relationships with the retailer to increase sales of snow sports products. SIA received nearly 900 nominations for this accolade from snow sports retailers in the industry nationwide. Nine regions were identified for retailers to vote for the snow sports rep they felt most deserving.

This year the Rep of the Year Awards will be given out during the 2010 SIA Snow Show in Denver, CO, January 28-31, 2009. Each winner will receive an award to recognize their commitment to the industry, as well as a one year SIA Rep Membership and $150 American Express Gift Card. The winners are:

Region: Northeast (ME/ VT/ NH/ MA/ RI/ CT)
Winner: Chad Waters
Lines: Smith Optics

Region: Atlantic (NY/ PA/ NJ/ DE/ MD)
Winner: Kent Fried
Lines: Atomic, Hestra, Sun Valley Ski Tours, Carrera, Lorpen

Region: Eastern Lakes (MI/ OH/ IN)
Winner: Tim Parker
Lines: Rossignol — Alpine, Snowboard, Nordic, & Apparel

Region: South (WV/ VA/ KY/ TN/ NC/ SC/ GA/ AL/ MS/ FL/ AR/ LA)
Winner: Mike Lamb
Lines: Atomic, Swix-Uvex, The Duck Company, Techstyles, Sports Accessories, Lorpen, Auclair, and Wintersteiger Tuning Equip.

Region: Midwest (ND/ MN/ WI/ SD/ IA/ IL/ NE/ MO/ KS/ OK)
Winner: Tom Blair
Lines: Atomic, Descente, Ripzone, Leki, Neve, Zero, Extreme Optiks

Region: Rockies (WY/ UT/ CO/ NM/ TX)
Winner: Jeff Braun
Lines: Nordica, The Soze Group

Region: Northwest (WA/ OR/ ID/ MT/ AK)
Winner: Dane Stevenson
Lines: Swix, POC, Dermatone, Rollerblade, Hammerhead, Pedro’s

Region: Northern CA
Winner: Josh Hoyer
Lines: Oakley (including Arnette, Revo, Fox, & Ray Ban)

Region: West (Southern CA/NV/ AZ/ HI)
Winner: Mike Day
Lines: Scott USA

Voting for the regional rep award began in September with surveys sent out to nearly 10,000 US retailers. Nomination criteria focused on five main components including: relationships with retail shops, communication with retailers, proactively helping stores manage inventory, conducting shop clinics; and timely response to retail shops’ calls and emails.

The SIA U.S. SnowSports Regional Rep of the Year award is part of the overall awards program that SIA has continued to build over the past several years. Other awards in the program include: the Canadian SnowSports Rep of the Year, U.S. SnowSports Retailer of the Year, Canadian Retailer of the Year and Supplier of the Year awards.

For more information, visit snowsports.org.

- SIA –

SnowSports Industries America (SIA) is the national not-for-profit, North American member-owned, trade association representing the snow sports industry. Established in 1954, SIA annually produces the SIA Snow Show, the largest snow sports industry trade show, on-snow demo and networking environment globally, while delivering invaluable data/research reports including the Snow Sports Market Intelligence Report, the SIA Retail Audit and Executive Market Summary. SIA also develops marketing products, services and programs helping our Members operate more efficiently and increase participation in snow sports. For more information, check out snowsports.org.