Canyon announce Kristen Laina White as new chief digital officer

Canyon has announced the appointment of Kristen Laina White, who will be taking on the role of chief digital officer.

In sharing the news, the business points out that Laina White brings over 25 years of experience in digital technologies and sports industries, most recently at Nike and Estee Lauder Companies.

Seen as a natural fit at Canyon – a company that has been a pioneer in digital and direct-to-consumer business operations since our inception in 2002 – the appointment of Laina White will enable the DTC brand continue to developing more relevant and personalized experiences for consumers, via the Canyon app, while also making it easier to find, compare and buy products across all the brand’s digital platforms.

Speaking about the appointment, Canyon CEO Nicholas de Ros Wallace added: “With our bikes, we can inspire our global fan base to embark on incredible adventures. The same inspiration should happen online.

“When we meet our fans and customers in the digital world, searching for the best bike or service, we want to delight them with world-class e-commerce, seamless connected features and vibrant community experiences.

“Kristen’s broad professional background and creative genius make her the perfect fit for our innovative and customer-focused culture.”

Canyon recruitment in focus

The Koblenz, Germany based business has seen a raft of senior hires over the past 18 months.

2024 started with the news that Chad Manuell had joined the brand as chief technology officer, bringing with him more than 22 years of experience in the bicycle industry, most recently as director of engineering at Trek.

With the ambition for further growth and globalisation, the appointment of Manuell was highlighted as another important personnel decision, which followed on from Alison Jones joining as COO and Karim Bohn joining as CFO/MD in the previous 12 month period.

New bikes, and one very high profile investor

In the same timeframe as senior hires joined the business, the brand also introduced the Spectral mullet with Keep It Stable technology, a new generation Endurace, as well as all-new Inflite CFR, Grail and Lux Trail XC.

As if that wasn’t enough, there’s ‘that video’, featuring a certain Olympic flag bearer, and American basketball superstar, LeBron James.