FEATURE
disconnect between the industry’s goals and its reality. “I’m going to take this feedback and goals and bring it back to the Women in Cycling Expert Group at Cycling Industries Europe,” Marshke stated at the start, framing the event as a direct call for industry accountability. The Summit, created by Outside Advice (April’s business), was launched in partnership with Cycling Industries Europe, Women in Cycling Expert Group, and BikeBusinessHub. The aim? To equip participants with the “tools, information and actions” necessary to close the gender gap. The urgency behind this is underlined by a worrying statistic
on retention. In 2023, a Bicycle Association report revealed that 71% of women were considering leaving the cycling industry. This high turnover costs the sector valuable “brain trust and talent,” April noted, immediately underlining why events like the Summit Series need to exist in the first place. There’s every chance you’re thinking to yourself, well, why? Why does this matter? Data shows that Companies with > 30% women in leadership showed an 18% increase in the likelihood of financial outperformance in 2023. According to a recent McKinsey report, those without that level of diversity showed financial underperformance of 31% in comparison. During her presentation, Dr Fiona Spotswood noted that consumers are becoming increasingly interested in a brand’s purpose, with consumer preference for purpose-aligned brands rising significantly in recent years. Fiona’s research points to the industry missing a massive commercial opportunity by not catering to women, who “will spend their money... buy products, and they will go on holidays,” if the offer is tailored to them. But it’s not just about the bottom line. At Eurobike, Cycling Industries Europe (CIE) released
a survey (although findings are currently unpublished) to gather data from participating companies (some global, some regional), which can be used to set the context for the challenges in recruitment and retention. Whilst the preliminary survey data shows that one-third (33%) of leadership roles are held by women, April argued that this was misleading as many of the roles were newly created between 2016-2021, meaning women weren’t advancing up traditional pipelines. Crucially, less than 10% of companies surveyed have set high-level diversity targets or goals. But the question remains, how do we create a more diverse
workforce? And more importantly, how do we attract and retain talent? Change takes time, but it must be intentional, something embedded in as a business practice, explained Angela Craft Williams, Senior HR Executive at SRAM, where diversity and gender equity are not passive “programs” but an intentional, embedded, and systematic part of their business strategy. At SRAM, they’ve shown that change is not only possible but is a continuous path to better performance. Over the last
26 | November 2025
Angela Craft-Williams
decade, the company has seen significant increases in female representation, growing to nearly 29% female globally. This growth wasn’t accidental. It was driven by a fundamental shift in their approach to talent. “In the three years since I’ve been at SRAM, we’ve gone from
one woman senior leader, who was our CHRO, we now have a CFO, a head of global quality. We have a Manager of a brand... we are making inroads in the roles to increase even our own numbers.”
In addition, their approach focuses on intentionality across
culture, policy, and talent pipelines. Angela emphasised the importance of having senior leaders (including men) actively advocate for and nominate women for specific roles and opportunities, “Sponsorship is, there is a role open and I put my name on the table and say [person’s name] needs to get that job. And here’s why. So that takes mentorships to a little bit of a different level.” This support is backed by Ally Skills Training, providing training to male colleagues on how to support and amplify
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