Pewaukee, WI, January 15, 2008—Harken’s commercial manager, Bill Goggins, was recently elected president of Sail America. Goggins’ role as president is a volunteer position and his role at Harken is unchanged. Sail America is the trade association for the U.S. sailing industry and plays a vital role for all companies that are involved in providing sailing-related products and services. The organization has over 500 members representing all segments of the sailing market, from manufacturers to sailing schools and from charter companies to publishers.
As Sail America’s new president, Goggins is dedicated to stabilizing the organization and helping it improve its dedication to excellence in the industry. “Sail America’s ultimate market (the sailor) is a highly educated, successful, affluent consumer,” comments Goggins. “Sailors expect more, and enforcing a standard commitment to excellence in all of our decision making is critical.”
"Sail America was formed in 1990 because we felt sailing (at the time) was not being fairly represented in the major marine manufacturing organizations,” commented Olaf Harken, the organization’s first president. “In addition to representing the sailing industry, we added boat shows, which became the financial mainstay and basis for funding Sail America operations. As the organization evolved, we added a permanent staff. Today we have our autonomy, but we need to be sure we remain economically viable. Bill will have a big challenge ahead of him in bringing financial stability to the organization as well as implementing a solid marketing effort. It will be hard, but we have every confidence that he is up to the task and can do it!”
Sail America produces annually four of the country’s best sailboat shows—Strictly Sail® St. Petersburg, Strictly Sail® Chicago, Strictly Sail® Miami and Strictly Sail® Pacific—as well as SailFest events at NMMA’s Virginia In-Water Show and Baltimore show. In addition to running Strictly Sail® Boat Shows and SailFests, Sail America promotes the sailing lifestyle, introduces
thousands of new people to sailing, generates qualified sales leads, distributes industry and market information, provides valuable business tools and education, facilitates networking events and supports industry-wide initiatives, such as Discover Sailing and Grow Boating.
Links:
Sail America
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