David Abeles, new CGI CEO

SAN DIEGO, Calif. — Competitor Group, Inc. (CGI), the San Diego based company that owns and operates 53 events around the world, including its flagship Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon Series, today announced that its board of directors has named David Abeles as Chief Executive Officer.

For the past several months CGI chairman Paul Walsh has been serving as interim CEO after Scott Dickey and Steve Gintowt left the company as CEO and CFO in December 2013. The change in leadership followed a strong industry reaction against CGI’s precipitous reduction in its elite athlete program just two weeks prior to the Rock `n` Roll Philadelphia Half Marathon last September after appearance agreements had been made by CGI’s elite athlete coordinator Matt Turnbull.  Later, following Dickey and Gintowt’s departure,CGI reversed course, and in January reconstituted its commitment to elite competition.

Now, 42 year-old David Abeles joins the firm, bringing 20 years of executive experience in the sports industry to CGI. He was most recently the Executive Vice President and General Manager at TaylorMade-Adidas Golf Company, where over the past six years he led the commercial operations of a $1.8 billion global equipment and apparel division. Prior to TaylorMade, Abeles served as Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Cobra Golf.  I spoke with Abeles by telephone today from his office at CGI headquarters in San Diego.

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