Stefan Petschnig

Background

About Stefan Petschnig

My journey from Entrepreneur to The IRONMAN Group Executive Team and Board Member I have spent the last 26 years in the sports/events industry. My experience ranges from conceiving and executing single events to creating and managing worldwide event series for The IRONMAN Group, UTMB World Series, EPIC Series and Haute Route as a member of the Executive Team, Board Member and Chief Business Development Officer for The IRONMAN Group. My key experiences over the past quarter century have been:+ Develop the vision, mission and values for The IRONMAN Group and global series/brands including IRONMAN, UTMB World Series, EPIC Series, Haute Route + Recruit and develop international teams to plan and execute the above global events/brands in endurance sports + Generate public funds from sport and tourism + Cooperation and synergies between venues and events + Expansion through acquisition, organic growth and license models + Integration of event companies and their events into the series/under the umbrella brand As co-founder of Triangle Show and Sports Promotion in 1997, my partners and I established IRONMAN events in EMEA between 1998 and 2013. Following the sale of Triangle to Providence Equity Partners in 2011, I stayed on board as MD of EMEA to consolidate the IRONMAN business and event portfolio across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. In 2013, I joined Infront Sports and Media to develop the B2RUN corporate running series in Europe and a series of ten 10km road running events in major cities across China, including Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Guangzhou and others. In partnership with Infront and IRONMAN, I set up and led a team in Beijing to plan and organise the inaugural IRONMAN 70.3 events in Hefei, Xiamen and Liuzhou, China between 2015 and 2017. In 2017, I rejoined the IRONMAN Group to take on the role of Head of Operations (2017) and Managing Director EMEA (2018 to 2021). While IRONMAN experienced tremendous growth in the number of events and participants across EMEA in the first years of my new role, my focus shifted to keeping the team on board and our brands/events alive during the CV-19 pandemic. I joined the IRONMAN executive team in 2021 to drive growth and diversify the brand and event portfolio. During my time as Chief Business Development Officer, the IRONMAN Group acquired a stake in UTMB and numerous trail running events around the world to be integrated into the UTMB World Series. In addition, our BD team drove the IRONMAN Group's acquisitions in mountain biking to grow the EPIC Series and brought Haute Route on board.