Andrew Messick steps down

Jul 6, 23 14:12

Post #1 of 106 (6440 views)

Good thing, bad thing or just a thing? Wonder if its been on the table for a while or if something is changing?

To our esteemed Professional Triathletes –

I am announcing today that after 12 years with The IRONMAN Group, I have decided to retire from my position of President & Chief Executive Officer later this year and will move to a Board role, following the successful recruitment and appointment of a new CEO.

Stepping down is not easy. I have had the privilege to watch many of you compete on racecourses around the world -- and appreciate the relationships that I have been able to establish. I have loved watching the best athletes in the world compete, and appreciate the inspiration that you provide to our IRONMAN community.

In the immediate term, nothing will change; I will remain CEO until the new leader is appointed. I intend to stay involved to ensure a smooth transition, remain on the Board, and provide advice and help to the new CEO, once she or he is selected. I have confidence that we will find a great leader to add to an already great team that understands the importance of our athletes leading to continuity and stability of how we work with our professionals in the years to come.

Thank you for the part you have played in this.

I’ll see you at the races,

Andrew

Re: Andrew Messick steps down [bricewilliams] [ In reply to ]

Jul 6, 23 14:14

Post #2 of 106 (6427 views)

I know a lot of people will be saying it's a good thing because of some of the recent controversial decisions Ironman has made (e.g. split WC), but I'm going to reserve judgement until I see the next thing.

Too old to go pro but doing it anyway
http://instagram.com/tgarvey4

Re: Andrew Messick steps down [MrRabbit] [ In reply to ]

Jul 6, 23 14:17

Post #3 of 106 (6403 views)

Our article: https://www.slowtwitch.com/..._to_Retire_8726.html

----------------------------------
Editor-in-Chief, Slowtwitch.com | Twitter

Re: Andrew Messick steps down [bricewilliams] [ In reply to ]

Jul 6, 23 14:26

Post #4 of 106 (6345 views)

It's undeniable that he has done a ton of good for the brand and for the sport. Yes, he has made tons of mistakes and I have been one of the first to criticize him on these forums for those mistakes, but he has been uncommonly dedicated and loyal to both the IM brand and to the sport of triathlon. That is undeniable. He loves the sport as is evident by the dedication, effort and plain old time spent in his position.

He spent 12 years as CEO of a mid-size company that was bounced around from owner to owner that whole time! That is very uncommon for someone that brought a resume like Andrew's to that job. He could have done a million other things but he chose to work in triathlon. I thank him for his years of dedicated service and wish him well on his new endeavors.

------------------
http://dontletitdefeatyou.blogspot.com

Re: Andrew Messick steps down [Lock_N_Load] [ In reply to ]

Jul 6, 23 14:40

Post #5 of 106 (6281 views)

I'm with you there. I know it's the nature of the internet to focus on the negatives, be them perceived or real, but he's absolutely done a lot of great work over the last 12 years that never gets talked about. I could list the things I'd have done differently, but I'll leave that for someone who's more excited to do so.

I've only had a few interactions with Andrew but they've all been positive, and what came through most was his love for the sport. I'm sure this thread will go in a lot of directions, but even with the very fair criticisms I hope that doesn't get lost.

Too old to go pro but doing it anyway
http://instagram.com/tgarvey4

Re: Andrew Messick steps down [Lock_N_Load] [ In reply to ]

Jul 6, 23 14:47

Post #6 of 106 (6240 views)

He spent 12 years as CEO of a mid-size company that was bounced around from owner to owner that whole time! That is very uncommon for someone that brought a resume like Andrew's to that job. He could have done a million other things but he chose to work in triathlon. I thank him for his years of dedicated service and wish him well on his new endeavors.

My feelings are the same. Andrew Messick has done overall a great job with IRONMAN at a high level, which is what a CEO is supposed to do. It's not been easy. This business is NOT the money-maker that people think it is. The easy number crunching leads to a false narrative that many follow. Endurance Sports Race/Event Management at this scale is INCREDIBILY hard with very thin margins. The rotating door or ownership, must not have been easy - and of course, the massive financial and economic convulsions, of the pandemic, inflicted insane and completely new and unknown challenges for anyone and everyone in the Live Events Business. As I have said here many times, try running a mid-to large sized business, and then abruptly you have your main source of revenue just turned off for a year to two years! Think about it for a second - how would you survive such an event?

Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

Re: Andrew Messick steps down [bricewilliams] [ In reply to ]

Jul 6, 23 14:51

Post #7 of 106 (6219 views)

Question is:

Why did he quit?

(I assume to “retire from the role” is Ironmanese for “quit”.)

"FTP is a bit 2015, don't you think?" - Gustav Iden

Re: Andrew Messick steps down [kajet] [ In reply to ]

Jul 6, 23 15:07

Post #8 of 106 (6134 views)

Don't let the door hit you on the arse on the way out....

Re: Andrew Messick steps down [kajet] [ In reply to ]

Jul 6, 23 15:10

Post #9 of 106 (6124 views)

kajet wrote:

Question is:

Why did he quit?

(I assume to “retire from the role” is Ironmanese for “quit”.)

Looks like a podcast with him is incoming today. I hope they dig into that.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CuXtJWVy8yD/

Re: Andrew Messick steps down [bricewilliams] [ In reply to ]

Jul 6, 23 15:11

Post #10 of 106 (6120 views)

i would not want to be negative on him, i m sure he did amazing thing buisness wise. But as a athlete, the product and experience have gone downhill since 2011.... how much of this is on him and is vision vs the reality of the sport? no clue but i sure hope we could go back to some of the element of the past that made events so much more fun to be part of.

Jonathan Caron / Professional Coach / ironman champions / age group world champions
Jonnyo Coaching
Instargram

Re: Andrew Messick steps down [kajet] [ In reply to ]

Jul 6, 23 15:27

Post #11 of 106 (6064 views)

He certainly has taken a lot of criticism from members of this forum. I agree with previous posts about him advancing the sport and give him my thanks. I do wonder if his leaving isn’t another signal that Ironman is in trouble. I won’t be letting them hold my entry fee money for next year (email came out today for 2024 races).

Re: Andrew Messick steps down [bricewilliams] [ In reply to ]

Jul 6, 23 15:31

Post #12 of 106 (6055 views)

The good:

— race day product is excellent (but I’m not sure how much credit he deserves for that)
— Covid era policies were very friendly

The bad:

— damaged the sport with predatory approach to rival races
— horrible quality control with almost all other aspects of organization (website, merchandise, customer service)
— has not been able to create sustainable races in most venues, including Kona

Re: Andrew Messick steps down [Fleck] [ In reply to ]

Jul 6, 23 15:39

Post #13 of 106 (6017 views)

Fleck wrote:

He spent 12 years as CEO of a mid-size company that was bounced around from owner to owner that whole time! That is very uncommon for someone that brought a resume like Andrew's to that job. He could have done a million other things but he chose to work in triathlon. I thank him for his years of dedicated service and wish him well on his new endeavors.

My feelings are the same. Andrew Messick has done overall a great job with IRONMAN at a high level, which is what a CEO is supposed to do. It's not been easy. This business is NOT the money-maker that people think it is. The easy number crunching leads to a false narrative that many follow. Endurance Sports Race/Event Management at this scale is INCREDIBILY hard with very thin margins. The rotating door or ownership, must not have been easy - and of course, the massive financial and economic convulsions, of the pandemic, inflicted insane and completely new and unknown challenges for anyone and everyone in the Live Events Business. As I have said here many times, try running a mid-to large sized business, and then abruptly you have your main source of revenue just turned off for a year to two years! Think about it for a second - how would you survive such an event?

Typically an executive at a PE-run company doesn't even last 5 years. Over the years that Andrew was CEO I would celebrate things like the expansion of 70.3's or the saving of the 2021 WC by bringing it to St. George after COVID or the expansion of live coverage for events. And I would also criticize him for not being more proactive on proper communication with customers, unequal slots for women at the WC, the watering the soup on SWAG at events, etc. And then there were the really tough issues like: what to do with the WC in Kona or how do we ensure safety and still maximize the number of participants.

Through it all in the back of my mind the thought would be: My goodness, this mother f-er has a really, really tough job. But I'll be damned, he loves what he does! And I just have to admire that. He loves the sport and is passionate about it. I have a feeling we may all miss that going forward.

------------------
http://dontletitdefeatyou.blogspot.com

Re: Andrew Messick steps down [rrheisler] [ In reply to ]

Jul 6, 23 15:53

Post #14 of 106 (5956 views)

A little surprised they didn’t have a succession plan for when he stepped down. He’s been there long enough for there to be discussions on a potential successor and development of internal employees to step into the role. Reading between the lines, it sounds like this was unplanned and abrupt.

Re: Andrew Messick steps down [bricewilliams] [ In reply to ]

Jul 6, 23 15:58

Post #15 of 106 (5936 views)

He did a lot to grow the IM brand, turn their second product (70.3's) into a success and get a lot of people involved in triathlon. There were also drawbacks from that growth on the local/regional scene that helped put triathlon in it's current position of losing participation rates. The pandemic exacerbated that trend certainly.

This is probably one of those situations where he stayed a few years past where he should have.

Will be interesting to see what sort of changes happen at the org for races and racers.

Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta

Re: Andrew Messick steps down [Tribike53] [ In reply to ]

Jul 6, 23 17:02

Post #16 of 106 (5772 views)

Tribike53 wrote:

kajet wrote:

Question is:

Why did he quit?

(I assume to “retire from the role” is Ironmanese for “quit”.)

Looks like a podcast with him is incoming today. I hope they dig into that.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CuXtJWVy8yD/

Is that with Jack Kelly?

Re: Andrew Messick steps down [Diabolo] [ In reply to ]

Jul 6, 23 17:25

Post #17 of 106 (5724 views)

Yes, with Jack.

Re: Andrew Messick steps down [Lagoon] [ In reply to ]

Jul 6, 23 17:30

Post #18 of 106 (5700 views)

Lagoon wrote:

Yes, with Jack.

I thought they were mortal enemies..?

Re: Andrew Messick steps down [desert dude] [ In reply to ]

Jul 6, 23 17:31

Post #19 of 106 (5698 views)

his job is to expand the value for the owners and he did that really well.

But the execution of the split world championship- the timing, considering where we are as a sport - was pretty bad. I think that hurt the brand and hurt the value.

Easy for me to say but as a do over I’d go back to Kona, exclusively, shrink the field and double the price. Exclusivity has been lost. That is what has gone wrong.

Re: Andrew Messick steps down [bricewilliams] [ In reply to ]

Jul 6, 23 17:34

Post #20 of 106 (5670 views)

One has to wonder if the incident in Hamburg last month played a part.

Re: Andrew Messick steps down [stevej] [ In reply to ]

Jul 6, 23 17:35

Post #21 of 106 (5667 views)

stevej wrote:

A little surprised they didn’t have a succession plan for when he stepped down. He’s been there long enough for there to be discussions on a potential successor and development of internal employees to step into the role. Reading between the lines, it sounds like this was unplanned and abrupt.

Similar to cheney - leading w's search for a veep.
I applaud messicks political skill. Hand off for the next person, and be percieved to be mission critical to convince the bod he should lead it.

Golf clap.

Huuuuge missed opportunity when he alienated and blocked trs / hobbs. I expect fleck and other boomers and others to counter this.

Re: Andrew Messick steps down [bricewilliams] [ In reply to ]

Jul 6, 23 17:36

Post #22 of 106 (5664 views)

Kudos to Messick for starting the Legacy program. It will be interesting to see how the trail running segment of IM's business develops under a new CEO.

Last edited by: Mark Lemmon: Jul 6, 23 17:39

Re: Andrew Messick steps down [bricewilliams] [ In reply to ]

Jul 6, 23 18:11

Post #23 of 106 (5537 views)

bricewilliams wrote:

I have decided to retire from my position of President & Chief Executive Officer later this year and will move to a Board role

The Board said "You're done; we will let you stay on as a Board Member ... for a while"

Seen it all before

"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

Re: Andrew Messick steps down [jonnyo] [ In reply to ]

Jul 6, 23 18:31

Post #24 of 106 (5488 views)

Read between the lines of Jonnyo's post and you just know he wants the underpants run back!

http://www.fitspeek.com the Fraser Valley's fitness, wellness, and endurance sports podcast

Re: Andrew Messick steps down [bricewilliams] [ In reply to ]

Jul 6, 23 21:08

Post #25 of 106 (5212 views)

My take is the triathlete enthusiasts might interpret this as a good thing (and it may be), but I can't help but wonder if Messick is stepping down not because of all the flack from the usual suspects but he sees the writing on the wall: DECLINE.

Ironman is canceling several races going into next year, they are seeing declining numbers in a lot of their races, they have StG and CdA asking not to do the full distance (declining numbers certainly contribute). Then the World's fiasco where they struggle to give women slots to Kona and they are faced with the impossible task of trying to give women slots to Nice.

Messick is walking away because there are challenges that seem totally out of his hands to overcome.

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