PARK CITY, UT October 7, 2019. Today, Snowsports Industries America (SIA) announced that they have opened its membership to include new segments of the industry: retailers, sales reps and resorts. After 65 years of serving constituents in the supplier category, this change reflects the evolution of the snow sports industry and the need for a broader approach to helping the industry thrive.
“In an effort to create a more inclusive organization, where diverse perspectives are appreciated, collaboration is encouraged and benefits can be shared, SIA is welcoming new members to our organization,’ said Nick Sargent, SIA’s president. “We cannot do business in silos anymore so opening up our membership to include these valuable constituents will help to break down barriers and act as one.”
In order to move the business forward, SIA is excited to create a robust network of members across the industry to collectively engage around its key initiatives for 2020: Events, Education, Research, Participation and Climate.
“The Board of Directors believes that the best way to successfully and sustainably evolve SIA is to serve all snow sports stakeholders. A comprehensive approach is critical to understanding and tackling the issues we face as an industry,” said Wendy Carey, Chair of the SIA Board of directors. “We felt strongly that the benefits SIA offers benefit all snow sports businesses and that together we have the ability to identify and build even more solutions for a broader membership. SIA benefits include valuable research, ongoing education, the on-snow demo and advocacy to name a few. But most importantly, SIA wants to bring together the different stakeholder groups from across the winter community and the greater outdoor industry to engage in conversation, collaboration and action.”
Despite the fact that SIA sees this change as an opportunity to better align all industry stakeholders, we are especially excited to better support retailers. “With retail being the backbone of the winter industry, we look forward to developing new ways that we can further help strengthen this part of the business,” says Sargent.
For more information, please visit snowsports.org/membership