Nikon has appointed Markus Krill the new senior manager of the Sport Optics division for Europe and South Africa, effective Feb. 1. Previously, Krill was in charge of sales and marketing in Germany, Austria, Slovenia and the Netherlands. In his new role he is no longer with the Düsseldorf-based German subsidiary, but reports to Nikon's European president, Takami Tsuchida. Remarkably, Markus Krill is replacing Naoto Yoshida, becoming the first Nikon manager on this level who is not Japanese. While Krill believes Nikon's sportive optical gear is extremely well positioned in Scandinavia, German speaking countries, France and the U.K., he sees high potential that needs to be developed in Spain, Italy, South Africa and a great deal of the eastern European countries. In regard to binoculars and sports optics, Nikon is number three in the European market behind Swarovski and Zeiss. On a global scale, the Japanese are likewise number three, coming in behind Bushnell and Leupold.
