Rapha CEO William Kim steps down after less than one year in the role

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UK premium cycling brand appoints two replacements with immediate effect

The recently launched Rapha Pro Team Infinium Jacket
The recently launched Rapha Pro Team Infinium Jacket (Image credit: Rapha Racing)

Rapha CEO William Kim has announced that he will be stepping down from the role, less than a year after brand founder Simon Mottram left the same post after 17 years at the helm.

Kim, who began in the role at the start of 2022, has stated that personal reasons are at the heart of his decision to leave Rapha, as he plans to relocate back to Korea with his family.

Kim was formerly CEO of AllSaints and had worked with Burberry and Gucci in senior positions – he was officially appointed as a director of Rapha Racing Ltd on 7th March 2022.

“As you can imagine, this has been a very difficult decision for me to make,” Kim said following the announcement of his decision to leave the business. “Over the last year, I’ve grown to love the Rapha brand. Rapha is an amazing business, made of great people and a unique culture, a tight-knit community[…] It has been a privilege to experience how magical cycling is and I know you will continue to thrive and lead the industry.”

He will be replaced by Francois Convercey and Daniel Blumire, who have been appointed to the joint role of Managing Director for the British clothing brand with immediate effect. Simon Mottram also remains on the board of directors and is listed as both a company director and company secretary. 

Convercey was previously Chief Brand & Marketing Officer for Rapha while Blumire was Chief Commercial & Product Officer for the brand, while both have worked with Rapha for a number of years.

Newly appointed Rapha managing director Francois Convercey

Newly appointed Rapha managing director Francois Convercey (Image credit: Rapha racing)

Dan Blumire, Rapha's managing director

Newly appointed Rapha managing director Dan Blumire (Image credit: Rapha Racing)

“We are both equally passionate about the Rapha brand, our company culture and values,” the two managing directors said, in a joint statement. “Rapha created a market and a benchmark for performance and style-forward cycling clothing, and is well positioned to continue to expand and inspire the world to live life by bike.”

According to accounts published on Companies House, Rapha Racing Ltd had a turnover of £84,661,000 to the year ending 30th January 2022, with an EBITDA of £10,923,000.

In recent years Rapha has sponsored WorldTour team EF Education-Easypost and more recently EF Education-TIBCO-SVB, while in 2022 the brand ended its long-term sponsorship of women’s WorldTour team Canyon-Sram.

Peter Stuart
Peter Stuart
Editor

Peter Stuart has been the editor of Cyclingnews since March 2022, overseeing editorial output across all of Cyclingnews' digital touchpoints.


Before joining Cyclingnews, Peter was the digital editor of Rouleur magazine. Starting life as a freelance feature writer, with bylines in The Times and The Telegraph, he first entered cycling journalism in 2012, joining Cyclist magazine as staff writer. Peter has a background as an international rower, representing Great Britain at Under-23 level and at the Junior Rowing World Championships.