News

The commercial manager of Daiwa Sports UK, Martin Greene, has been elected as the new vice chairman of the UK industry body, the Angling Trades Association.

He takes over from Mike Heylin who has stepped down after a three-year stint in the role to become an honorary member.

Martin was elected to the ATA board earlier this year, succeeding Robin Morely as the Daiwa Sports representative, with Robin now also an honorary member after many years of valuable service to the association.

Martin has been involved in the trade for over 25 years and with Daiwa for 18 of those. He brings a wealth of knowledge to the board, both in terms of both industry knowledge and angling skills.

Introduced to the sport under the guidance of his grandfather, Martin quickly developed a taste for competitive angling, becoming a member of the England youth team by the age of 15. He has competed at both national and world championship level.

Martin brings with him a significant insight into the world of angling retail, having worked for high profile retailers over a number of years in addition to spending some time on the road as territory sales manager for Leeda.

Over the same period, he continued to compete at the highest level in both UK and European arenas, winning individual matches on the open circuit as well as being part of National Championship side Starlets A.C.

After joining Daiwa Sports UK, he spent 11 years as an account manager using his business skills and angling retail experience to develop strong business relationships right across the UK, something that will be incredibly valuable in his new role as vice chair.

ATA chair Andrew Race said: “Martin’s industry knowledge and experience of fish and fisheries will be invaluable to ATA going forward as we seek to re-establish the framework needed to protect fisheries and generate engagement with angling. Martin’s energy and passion has been very welcome at recent board meetings.”