In a sign that ASX listed Shark Mitigation Systems are getting serious about taking their unique shark deterring wetsuits to market, surf wear industry specialist Simon O’Sullivan has been appointed as General Manager of the company.
The announcement comes hot on the heels of a recent announcement that Australian surfing legend Taj Burrow had also signed on as the global Ambassador for Shark Mitigation Systems.
O’Sullivan was most recently the Australian Chief Operating Officer of well known surf brand Rusty with responsibility for the Australian operations.
He was previously the State Manager for Rip Curl in W.A.
O’Sullivan will now spearhead the company’s go to market strategy for their unique “SAMS” technology which can be embedded in wetsuits and other marine products.
The SAMS technology manifests itself in a series of scientifically researched patterns that are applied to wetsuits for the purposes of confusing a shark into believing that the wearer is either a dangerous or unpalatable object.
It also has the capacity to camouflage the wearer by mimicking the colour spectrum of water.
The technology was initially developed and tested in W.A in partnership with the University of Western Australia.
Shark Mitgation Systems have already enjoyed some early success in licensing the SAMS technology with global swimwear brand Arena and local wetsuit company Radiator having already signed up to apply the SAMS patterns to their wetsuits.
Both companies will pay Shark Mitigation Systems a royalty for every wetsuit sold.
Shark Mitigation Systems Founding Director, Craig Anderson, said: “Simon brings a significant wealth of experience, having managed multi-million-dollar sales, marketing and distribution operations in the surf industry.”
“We believe there are significant opportunities for our technology in the global wetsuit market and Simon is an ideal candidate to unlock this potential, having successfully introduced a number of new product categories as COO of Rusty, and acquiring extensive wetsuit sales and distribution knowledge during his time with Rip Curl.” Said Mr Anderson.
By Matt Birney
