SWMBRD Appoints former VP Nike Global & former President Nike Brazil, Chris Kypriotis, as Director and Chairman, Announces Issuance of Shares, Resignation of Director and Marketing Agreement
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / April 22, 2022 / SWMBRD Sports Inc. (CSE:SWIM) ("SWMBRD" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Chris Kypriotis as a director and Chairman of the Company effective April 20, 2022.
Mr. Kypriotis is considered by many as one of the global sports world's most creative and effective leaders and executives. Most notably, he has formerly held positions as VP Nike Inc. Global, President Nike Inc. Brazil, VP Billabong Global and President of C&C/Rusty Surfboards (one of the worlds' iconic surf board manufacturers and apparel companies), as well as several other well-known global apparel brands.
SWMBRD Sports Inc. (CSE:SWIM), Friday, April 22, 2022, Press release picture
In his former roles as Global VP and CEO of Nike Inc. Brazil, Mr. Kypriotis was responsible for leading Nike's integrated growth, marketplace development and overall brand strategy. He oversaw Nike's entire operations in Brazil and was directly responsible for overseeing all of Nike Brazil's financial results (a reported $1 Billion in approximate total revenue). While at Nike Brazil, Mr. Kypriotis was also responsible for all departments and spearheaded the strategic planning leading up to the World Cup 2014 and the Olympic Games 2016 as well as the Nike Brazil 10-year business plan. While at Nike Brazil, he was involved in some of Nike's most ambitious and creative initiatives such as the Football Attack Plan, sponsoring the Brazilian Olympic team, and the Nike/Rio Infusion Plan. During Mr. Kypriotis' tenure at the head of Nike Brazil, Brazil became the 3rd largest market within Nike Inc., and achieved the highest ever market share growth.
Prior to joining Nike Inc., Mr. Kypriotis formerly served as the Vice President and an Executive Board Member of Billabong Group Inc. (Billabong, Element, RVCA, Nixon, Von Zipper, Dakine, Sector 9, etc.) and President of Billabong Group Inc. Latin America Geography ("LATAM"). During his former tenure, Mr. Kypriotis as Group VP and Board Member successfully acquired and integrated various strategically important brands as well as retailers and distributors. Further, as President of Billabong LATAM he led group records among all geographies on top and bottom line growth between the years of 2003-2010.
In 1992, Mr. Kypriotis joined C&C Companies Worldwide - Rusty Surfboards International, where he achieved leadership positions in every department from design/merchandising, production/supply chain, sales/direct-to-consumer, international licensing/distribution, marketing/demand creation, operations/logistics before ultimately becoming GM and President of C&C Europe.
His time with C&C/Rusty resulted in record top and bottom results, achieving a significant increase in market share and succeeding in transforming the Rusty Brand into one of the most respected in Europe.
Outside of the sports world, Mr. Kypriotis has previously held senior level positions and/or collaborated with some of the world's most iconic apparel brands such as Mossimo Inc., Stussy Inc. and the Donna Karran Company, LLC.
During his time in the apparel industry, Mr. Kypriotis gained high level global experience in product line development, retail distribution, licensing and global production/supply chain management and negotiation of distribution deals. He achieved growth revenue targets and established accountability/performance measures for growth within international territories.
Mr. Kypriotis is highly respected throughout the global sports world and has held board positions at some of the most prestigious organizations in the world, including the following:
1998- Present-Founder, VP and Lifetime Chairman EUROSIMA (The European Surf/skate/snow Industry Manufacturers Association.
2009-2013-Board of Directors - International Tennis Federation (2 Terms (Limit))
2005-2013-Olympic Committee
2009-2013-Chairman Women's Professional Tennis
2009-2013-Chairman International Wheelchair Tennis
2009-2013-Board of Directors - International Tennis Hall of Fame and Museum (2 terms)
2015-Present-Global Ambassador - Non-Violence Project Foundation (2015-Present)
Mr. Kypriotis has extensive multi-country and cultural experience and has lived and worked in the USA, France, Brazil, Greece and Australia and carries Brazilian and Greek citizenship as well as USA permanent resident status.
He is proficient in 5 languages, including Portuguese, Greek, English, French and Spanish, and has a BS, Corporate Finance from Boston College as well as an MBA, International Business Association from the California State University, Long Beach. He currently holds certificates of excellence from both the International Olympic Committee and the Brazilian Olympic Committee.
Mr. Kypriotis is a former top ranking junior tennis player as well as professional tour player and attended the legendary Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy alongside tennis legends Andre Agassi and Jim Courier. Mr. Kypriotis was sponsored by Nike during his tennis career.
Regarding his appointment, Mr. Kypriotis made the following comments:
"It is with great pride, humility and confidence that I have accepted the position of Chairman of the Board of Directors of SWMBRD. It is my aim to lead this profoundly innovative company into the future, to next levels of evolution and most importantly, to bring its unique and unprecedented products/innovation to the consumer and the world. I want to applaud Justin, Gareth and Matthew Schroenn on their dedication and resourcefulness in creating one of the most unique products that I have seen in my career and, from the point of view of a consumer myself, one which will add value to my life.
It is not lightly and with full confidence, given my considerable time and positions within the board sports industry and more widely, the global sports industry, that I state the following: there are few times I have witnessed "absolute true" innovation and SWMBRD with its swim board is definitely one of these unique moments. It is my absolute conviction, that SWMBRD will have a profound impact on the experiences people have in the water, whether that be in the ocean, river or lake. My own experience with the board has clearly shown me that what the bicycle is to us on terrain, the SWMBRD is on water; it allows us to have a completely different and unique experience in the water while giving us true freedom to explore the ‘liquid terrain'.
I believe that SWMBRD could become one of the most exciting and game changing chapters in the already extremely rich board riding history. SWMBRD will provide customers the opportunity to have totally new experiences in the water, will give other board riders new ways to enjoy the water element, and as a whole allow all of us the opportunity to more readily access/explore/enjoy the water.
I am ready and dedicated wholly to bring this innovation to commercialization and to help establish the board sport that has been waiting to be discovered. This is the board sport that is an add on to all board sports and I believe will be embraced by the board riding community. I am ready to engage my considerable experience and connectivity to bring SWMBRD to market in a meaningful, and scalable manner and help build what could be one of the most unique/innovative/growth products in sport."
President and CEO Justin Schroenn says, "On behalf of the Founders, Executive and the Board of Directors, we are extremely proud and excited to welcome Chris to the SWMBRD leadership. His renowned skills and experience at the highest levels of major global brands will be critical in helping us navigate the waters towards full production and the implementation of our full brand vision. Chris's passion, creativity and critical thinking as well as his aligned vision of the Company's future have been obvious since our first meetings, and it is difficult to imagine a person more uniquely and powerfully suited to our intended goal of growing SWMBRD into a significant global board sport brand. We believe his extensive experience as former VP Nike global, former President Nike Inc. Brazil and former CEO of Billabong, among others, will accelerate our global ambitions exponentially and we could not be more excited to have Chris be a pivotal part of this journey."
In connection with the appointment of Mr. Kypriotis and the independent contractor agreement dated April 4 2022 with Black Tag Inc. ("Black Tag"), the Company issued Black Tag 4,700,000 common shares of the Company at a deemed price of $0.0825 per share in settlement of a signing bonus in the amount of $387,750. All securities issued in settlement of the signing bonus are subject to a hold period expiring four months and one day from the date of issuance and are subject to release over a 36-month escrow period.
None of the securities acquired in settlement of the signing bonus were or will be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "1933 Act"), and none of them may be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements of the 1933 Act. This news release shall not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of the securities in any state where such offer, solicitation, or sale would be unlawful.
Also effective April 20, 2022, Roc Smith has resigned from his position as director of the Company. The Company would like to strongly emphasise its intention that Mr. Smith will remain directly involved in the Company's important front-line activities, particularly in Europe, in specific capacities to be determined as the Company enters its next stage of development in the upcoming months. The Company would like to thank Mr. Smith for his valuable service, dedication and hands-on participation as a director to the Company to date.
Also effective April 20, 2022, the company has entered into service with Venture Liquidity Partners ("VLP) pursuant to which VLP has agreed to provide market making services to the Company in consideration for a monthly payment of $5,000 (plus HST) and a number of stock options and at an exercise price to be agreed upon at time of issuance. The term of the Agreement commenced on April 20, 2022 and will continue for a period of three months and will automatically renew for successive additional one month terms. VLP's contact information is as follows: 55 University Avenue, Toronto, ON M5J 2H7, telephone: 416.707.3131, Bill Seaward.
About SWMBRD Sports Inc. SWMBRD Sports Inc. is a Vancouver, B.C. based sporting goods company looking to enable millions to rethink their way of recreating in the water. Management believes that SWMBRD's proprietary aquatic sports board, by virtue of its patented design, is revolutionary in how it empowers the human body in the water like nothing before, giving water lovers of all ages and abilities the freedom to explore all aquatic environments with ease.
By offering an aquatic board sport that is versatile, easy to use, easy to store, and which can be used by all ages and body types in any body of water (rivers, oceans, lakes and pools), the Company believes SWMBRD and the sport of swim boarding has the potential to become one of the most popular board sports in the world, and a great aquatic brand.
The Company has refined manufacturing techniques most relevant to the SWMBRD and has successfully produced demonstration fleets of fully functioning boards, which have been in rigorous real-world use in Hawaii, Canada, and Greece. The Company is now preparing to commence large scale mass production under an OEM agreement with Tahe Outdoors of Vannes, France - the preeminent board sport manufacturer in Europe. It is SWMBRD's intention to have Swim boards available for sale in December of 2022.
Forward-Looking Information Certain statements in this news release related to the Company are forward-looking statements and are prospective in nature including the statements that SWMBRD will have a profound impact on the experiences people have in the water, whether that be in the ocean, river or lake; that SWMBRD will be to the water what the bicycle is to terrain; that SWMBRD will be one of the most exciting and game changing chapters in the already extremely rich board riding history; that SWMBRD will provide customers the opportunity to have totally new experiences in the water, will give other board riders new ways to enjoy the water element, and as a whole allow all of us the opportunity to more readily access/explore/enjoy the water in every moment; that the appointment of Chris Kypriotis will help bring the SWMBRD innovation to the world and create the board sport that has been waiting to be discovered; that the SWMBRD is an add on to all board sports and will be embraced by the board riding community; that Mr. Kypriotis will engage his considerable experience and connectivity to bring SWMBRD to market in a meaningful, and scalable manner and to help build SWMBRD into one of the most unique/innovative/growth companies in the history of sport; that Mr. Kypriotis's skills and experience at the highest levels of major global brands will be critical in helping the Company navigate the waters towards full production and the implementation of its full brand vision; that Mr. Kypriotis skills and experience will be uniquely and powerfully suited to help implement the Company's goal of growing SWMBRD into a significant global board sport brand; that Mr. Kypriotis's experience as former VP Nike global, former President Nike Inc. Brazil and former CEO of Billabong, among others, will accelerate the Company's global ambitions exponentially; the Company's intention that former director, Mr. Roc Smith, will remain directly involved in the Company's important front-line activities, particularly in Europe, in specific capacities to be determined as the Company enters its next stage of development in the upcoming months; that VLP will provide the market making services to the Company pursuant to its market making agreement.
Forward-looking statements are not based on historical facts, but rather on current expectations and projections about future events and are therefore subject to risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially from the future results expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. These statements generally can be identified by the use of forward-looking words such as "may", "should", "could", "would", "intend", "estimate", "plan", "anticipate", "expect", "believe" or the negative thereof or similar variations. There are numerous risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results and the Company's plans and objectives to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements, including: business disruption risks relating to COVID-19; that SWMBRD may not have a profound impact on the experiences people have in the water, whether that be in the ocean, river or lake, as anticipated or at all; that SWMBRD may fail to be to the water what the bicycle is to terrain; that SWMBRD may, for various reasons, not become one of the most exciting and game changing chapters in board riding history; that SWMBRD may not, for any number of reasons, provide customers with the opportunity to have totally new experiences in the water, or give other board riders new ways to enjoy the water element, or otherwise provide the opportunity to more readily access/explore/enjoy the water in every moment; that the appointment of Chris Kypriotis may fail to help bring the SWMBRD innovation to the world or create the board sport that has been waiting to be discovered; that SWMBRD may not be an add on to all board sports and may fail to be embraced by the board riding community; that Mr. Kypriotis may be unable to engage his considerable experience and connectivity to bring SWMBRD to market in a meaningful and scalable manner and the Company may fail to develop into one of the most unique/innovative/growth companies in the history of sport or that otherwise such efforts are ultimately not successful; that Mr. Kypriotis may be unable to leverage his skills and experience with major global brands or may for various reasons fail to help the Company navigate the waters towards full production and the implementation of its full brand vision; that Mr. Kypriotis's skills and experience may not actually provide the anticipated benefit to implement the Company's goal of growing SWMBRD into a significant global board sport brand or that the Company may fail to implement its plan as anticipated or at all; that Mr. Kypriotis's experience may not help accelerate the Company's global ambitions exponentially; that the Company may fail to achieve any significant market share or interest in its products or brand; that Mr. Smith may not remain directly involved in the Company's important front-line activities; that VLP may fail to perform the market making services as agreed or such services may fail to provide the intended benefits; that the Company may fail to raise sufficient financing to implement its plan of operations; that the business of the Company may ultimately fail; and other risks outlined in the Company's publicly filed documents available on SEDAR. Actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information. These and all subsequent written and oral forward-looking statements are based on estimates and opinions of management on the dates they are made and are expressly qualified in their entirety by this notice. Except as required by law, the Company does not intend to update these forward-looking statements.
