Prominent Boat Industry Veteran Joins Challenger Powerboats' Newly Formed Executive Advisory Committee
06 Noviembre 2007 - 2:08PM
PR Newswire (US)
New committee member, Mike Phillips, has been instrumental in
building three start-up boat manufacturers to worldwide prominence
WASHINGTON, Mo., Nov. 6 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Challenger
Powerboats, Inc. ("Challenger") (OTC:CPBI) (BULLETIN BOARD: CPBI)
today announced that it has created an Executive Advisory Committee
to assist its management team in the Company's expansion phase and
the introduction of its soon to be introduced Pininfarina
powerboat. The Executive Advisory Committee currently consists of
three seasoned professionals, including Michael Phillips, a
renowned powerboat industry authority who was instrumental in the
creation and success of three prominent boat companies, Crownline
Boats, Mariah Boats, and Celebrity Boats. Mr. Phillips entered the
boat manufacturing industry approximately 25 years ago when he
joined Celebrity Boats, then a three year old company. During his
six-year tenure with Celebrity, the company grew from a $9 million
in revenue to $70 million, producing 6,000 boats, annually. He
joined start-up boat manufacturer, Mariah Boats, in its third month
of operations, and during its first years he focused on product
design and engineering, marketing strategy and sales distribution.
During Mariah's first year of operation, it shipped 600 boats to 70
dealers. Recognizing a similar opportunity, Mr. Phillips joined
colleagues to found Crownline Boats. He authored the company's five
year strategic plan and, over a ten year period, he was
instrumental in developing Crownline into one of the largest
powerboat manufacturers in the world, building and distributing
over 33,000 boats to 150 dealers in the United States, Canada,
South America and Europe and generating over $618 million in sales.
Mr. Phillips has served as a board member for the National Marine
Manufacturers Association (NMMA) and for the National Association
of Boat Manufacturers and was a sub-committee member of NMMA's Boat
Show Committee. He received his Bachelor of Science degree from
Cumberland College (Williamsburg, KY) and earned his masters degree
from Xavier University (Xavier, OH). Commenting on Michael
Phillips' appointment and the formation of the committee,
Challenger's president and CEO, Laurie Phillips (no relation to
Michael Phillips), said, "Challenger is undergoing an impressive
growth period, even though industry sales in general have
moderated. The dealer meeting held in September was highly
successful. With the new Pininfarina line set for introduction in
early 2008 and increased sales in all our boat lines, Challenger,
Gekko and Sugar Sand, the company's Board of Directors felt the
addition of an Executive Advisory Committee would further ensure
effective execution of our strategic plans." Ms. Phillips
concluded, "We are excited to include a boat industry executive
with Mike Phillips' background on the committee. Mike has agreed to
dedicate the time necessary at our plants in Washington, Missouri
and Fargo, North Dakota to support our management team and assist
in evaluating operations and strategic opportunities." Michael
Phillips added, "I first reviewed Challenger's operations over 18
months ago and recognized the quality and distinctive attributes of
the boat line. The addition of Sugar Sand water jet powered boats
and the well-known Gekko tow-boats made the business model even
more compelling. I was delighted to be given the opportunity to
again work with a boat company positioned to become a worldwide
name in the boat industry, and look forward to working directly
with Challenger's management team and its Board of Directors to
realize the company's growth potential." About Challenger
Powerboats, Inc. Challenger Powerboats, Inc. designs and
manufactures high performance 'go fast' offshore racing boats,
family sport cruisers, jet boats and water ski tow boats under the
brands 'Challenger Powerboats', 'Sugar Sand' and 'Gekko', which
target the recreational boating market. Proven world-class
technology is incorporated into the manufacturing of our award
winning boats at the Company's 65,000 sq. ft. facility located on
our 12 acre complex in Washington, Missouri and 80,000 sq. ft
facility in Fargo, North Dakota. The Company's boats are sold
through our dealer network in the United States, Canada, Mexico,
Europe, Australia, the Middle East and Japan. In 2006, Gekko was
selected as an official tow boat for the World Barefooting
Championships, and the European Barefooting Championships in 2005.
To find out more about Challenger Powerboats, Inc. (OTC: CPBI)
(BULLETIN BOARD: CPBI) please visit
http://www.challengerpowerboats.com/, http://www.sugarsand.com/,
http://www.gekkosports.com/ or http://www.sec.gov/ to view the
Company's public financial information and filings. Forward-Looking
Statements This release contains forward-looking statements,
including, without limitation, statements concerning our business
and possible or assumed future results of operations. Our actual
results could differ materially from those anticipated in the
forward-looking statements for many reasons including: our ability
to continue as a going concern, adverse economic changes affecting
markets we serve; competition in our markets and industry segments;
our timing and the profitability of entering new markets; greater
than expected costs, customer acceptance of our products or
difficulties related to our integration of the businesses we may
acquire; and other risks and uncertainties as may be detailed from
time to time in our public announcements and SEC filings. Although
we believe the expectations reflected in the forward-looking
statements are reasonable, they relate only to events as of the
date on which the statements are made, and our future results,
levels of activity, performance or achievements may not meet these
expectations. We do not intend to update any of the forward-looking
statements after the date of this document to conform these
statements to actual results or to changes in our expectations,
except as required by law. DATASOURCE: Challenger Powerboats, Inc.
CONTACT: Michael Novielli, Chairman of Challenger Powerboats, Inc.,
+1-845-575-6770, ext. 202; or Malcolm McGuire of CCRI Financial
Group, 1-800-828-0406, for Challenger Powerboats, Inc. Web site:
http://www.challengerpowerboats.com/ http://www.sugarsand.com/
http://www.gekkosports.com/
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