HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam, July 25, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — On July 21, 2025, the Board of Directors of Club Med Holding is pleased to announce the appointment of Stéphane Maquaire as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Club Med Holding, effective immediately.

Based on the recommendation of Henri Giscard d’Estaing, Club Med’s succession and evaluation process identified Stéphane Maquaire, a French national, as uniquely qualified to lead the company into a new phase of profitable growth. Stéphane Maquaire will lead Club Med Holding from Paris and ensure the preservation of the French identity and values.

The Board wishes to thank Henri Giscard d’Estaing, for his accomplished leadership over the past two decades, which has been instrumental in delivering Club Med’s successful transformation and in preparing the company for its next chapter.

Stéphane Maquaire brings strong leadership experience with French companies on the international stage. With deep expertise in premium brand transformation as well as commercial real estate, he has demonstrated a consistent track record of growth, operational excellence and consumer-facing innovation. Stéphane Maquaire joins Club Med from Carrefour, where he served as Executive Director for Carrefour Brazil and Latin America.

As part of its continued commitment to international governance and diversity, two new members will be added to the board. Philippe Heim is a seasoned executive with extensive management experience in France and internationally, while Takuya Yamada, Chairman of IDERA Capital, has collaborated closely with Club Med in recent years.

About Club Med
Founded in 1950 by Belgian water polo player, Gérard Blitz, later joined by French businessman, Gilbert Trigano, Club Med pioneered the all-inclusive concept. With 75 years of rich history, Club Med operates nearly 70 premium beach and mountain resorts in 40 countries spanning across 5 continents with new openings and renovations planned every year, offering even more hidden treasures to worldwide travelers. Club Med celebrates the beauty of the world – and the curiosity of those who inhabit it. Thanks to the support of its shareholder, Fosun Tourism Group, and the success of its repositioning strategy, today Club Med is not only the world leader in premium, all-inclusive vacations, but also a global brand with customers all over the world, cultivating new ideas with enthusiasm and freedom. Club Med employs nearly 28,000 Gentil Organizers (G.Os) and Gentil Employees (G.Es), representing 110 nationalities.

Media Contact
Maneekan Viratham Poonsawat
PR and Communications Manager, Thailand & New Markets
maneekan.virathampoonsawat@clubmed.com
+66 80 207 8885

PISCATAWAY, N.J. –– Rutgers head volleyball Caitlin Schweihofer, senior Lexi Visintine and junior Kenzie Dyrstad in the fourth annual Big Ten Volleyball Media Day on Monday, July 28 at the Big Ten Network studios in Chicago.

The trio will join host Rick Pizzo and analysts Holly McPeak and Elena Shklay live on BTN on the studio at 2:00 p.m. (ET) to discuss the upcoming 2025 season, including this year’s schedule, the growth of women’s athletics and a look at this year’s program.

Additionally, the Scarlet Knights will meet the media at a press conference at 2:50 p.m. (ET), available for viewing on BTN +.

 

The Big Ten was the first collegiate conference to host an in-person preseason volleyball media event, providing yet another example of the Big Ten’s commitment to elevating women’s sports.  

 

Schweihofer enters her sixth season “On The Banks” and has established the Rutgers program as a team on the rise. Last season, a youthful Scarlet Knight squad continued to rewrite the Rutgers record book, putting up several notable career and season numbers as the Big Ten expanded to the West Coast. On the attack, former Scarlet Knight Alissa Kinkela, the squad’s first-ever All-Big Ten attacker from 2023 and an Australian Olympic hopeful, cracked the top 10 all-time in career kills, the second most rally-era career kills and the third most rally-era career kills per set. Following the season, Kinkela signed to play professionally in South Korea. In addition to Kinkela’s mark in the record book, Rutgers put nine entries into the rally-era individual season top 10 records, with a new benchmark set for blocks in a rally-era season from rookie Natalie Robinson. Additionally, Robinson leads RU’s career blocks per set category after only one season “On The Banks”. At the same time, junior Lexi Visintine was just two aces shy of setting a new season standard in the category. In 2023, the team was honored with its first-ever All-Big Ten attacker with second team honorees bestowed upon Kinkela, while capturing the most wins and best nonconference record since 2012, improving its set win total by 45% over the previous season and setting a school record in attendance. The Scarlet Knights collected the most kills and most digs as a program since 2012, the highest serve percentage since 2016 and the most assists since 2018. The Scarlet Knights placed 12 entries into the rally-era individual season top 10 records, 13 entries into the rally-era team top 10 records, while collecting the most sets played, kills, assists, assists per set, digs and solo blocks by a team in conference play since joining the Big Ten in 2014. Rutgers improved its attendance by 50% while setting a program record of 6,757 in attendance at Jersey Mike’s Arena when facing No. 1 Nebraska on Nov. 5. Additionally, Schweihofer registered her 100th career victory. The previous season, in 2022, RU went 3-0 for the first time since 1998 with four Scarlet Knights named to all-tournament squads and, by the season’s end, had 11 entries on the rally-ear season leaders listing, including tying for the most kills by individual in a rally-era three set match and graduate student transfer Megan Vernon wrapping up her career second in rally-era solo blocks in only two seasons at Rutgers. The 2021 season saw RU play a majority of its home games at Jersey Mike’s Arena, moving across campus to the 8,000-seat arena, and captured set wins over #8 Purdue and #15 Penn State while taking Illinois to five sets in front of a national BTN audience. Schweihofer’s first season, back in the spring of 2021, set the tone for the various milestones that have helped shape the last six seasons as RU picked up its first-ever All-Big Ten honoree, first-ever home-opening Big Ten victory and first-ever Big Ten sweep while establishing new team, season and match record for aces and resetting program Big Ten game bests in kills, attempts, attack percentage and assists. 

A 6-0, Houston, Texas product, Lexi Visintine enters her senior season after serving up 37 aces a year ago, marking the most aces by a Scarlet Knight since 2013 and the second most aces in a rally-ear season. The outside hitter/defensive specialist registered double-doubles against Little Rock (11k, 17d) and versus Iowa (10k, 11d) in the Big Ten opener on BTN. She led RU with five aces in a straight-set victory over UMES, the eighth most in a match and second most in a three-set match by a Scarlet Knight, and made a career-high 11 kills in while putting away nine digs during a win over VCU (Sept.12), Altogether, Visintine has appeared in 69 matches and 200 sets over the last three seasons totaling 200 kills and 301 digs.

A 5-7 libero/defensive specialist, Kenzie Dyrstad led Rutgers in digs with 309 last season, averaging 2.97 and finishing the year fifth on the Rutgers sophomore digs leaders list. She racked up 22 matches with double-figure digs, including a career-high against Iowa in the Big Ten opener with Iowa at Jersey Mike’s Arena. She also set a career-high with four aces at Michigan in a five-set road thriller on BTN. As a freshman, Dyrstad was one of three Scarlet Knights selected to attend the U.S. Women’s National Team Open Program, after appearing in all 30 matches and 115 sets. 

Rutgers will join eight other Big Ten Conference volleyball programs (Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern, Penn State and Purdue) at the Big Ten Network on Monday, July 28, for the series of interview sessions and other creative content opportunities to preview the 2025 volleyball season. The remaining nine Big Ten Conference programs (Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Oregon, UCLA, USC, Washington and Wisconsin) will go through a similar schedule on the Big Ten Network on Tuesday, July 29. 

Following Big Ten Volleyball Media on social media with #B1GFirstServe.

Follow Rutgers women’s volleyball on Facebook, X and Instagram.

 – RU –

LEÓN, Mexico – Texas A&M volleyball’s Ifenna Cos-Okpalla was named to the U.S. Women’s U23 National Team for the North, Central America and Caribbean Volleyball Confederation Pan American Cup, the organization announced Friday.
 
Cos-Okpalla earned her first national team competition selection, as she and 11 other athletes make the trip to Mexico for the United States first U23 Pan American Cup appearance.
 

A&M’s dominant force in the middle of the court, Cos-Okpalla, blocked 161 swings during her junior year, averaging 1.46 a set, which rank second and third, respectively, in the Maroon & White’s history books. Offensively, the Flower Mound, Texas, native recorded 228 kills while hitting at a .374 percent clip throughout last season.
 
Cos-Okpalla’s dominance throughout the 2024 campaign also landed her on the AVCA All-America list at the end of last year, while earning her spots on the AVCA Player of the Year Watch List and Preseason All-SEC Team ahead of the 2025 season.
 
The U23 Pan American Cup includes three matches of group play, followed by three knockout rounds in the quarterfinals, semifinals and final, to determine the tournament champion.
 
United States Group Schedule
July 27^th vs. Dominican Republic – 3 p.m. CT
July 28^th vs. Suriname – 3 p.m. CT
June 29th vs. Costa Rica – 5 p.m. CT
 
FOLLOW THE AGGIES
Visit 12thMan.com for more information on Texas A&M volleyball. Fans can keep up to date with the A&M volleyball team on Facebook, Instagram and on Twitter/X by following @AggieVolleyball.

TOPEKA — The best distance runner in the state has officially announced her college commitment. Seaman’s Ryin Miller is committed to run at Arkansas, she announced on Friday. 

“I am so excited to announce my commitment to the University of Arkansas to continue my athletic and academic career,” Miller posted on Instagram. 

The rising senior is coming off of her best running campaign of her career. She is the reigning Class 5A state champion the 800, 1600 and 3200-meter runs in May. Miller set a new state record in the 1600-meter run at the Seaman Relays, too. She notched a time of 4:41.47, which was eighth fastest in the country. 

Last year, Miller also broke the record for the fastest 5K time in Kansas high school cross country history.

For her efforts, Miller was 2024-25 Gatorade Kansas Girls Track and Field and Cross Country Player of the Year.

Ryin Miller’s personal records

• 400 meter dash: 56.81
• 800 meter run: 2:09.28
• 1,600 meter run: 4:41
• 3,200 meter run: 10:13.97
• 5,000 meter cross country: 16:32.62

Liam Keating covers high school sports for The Topeka Capital-Journal. Send stats or information to him at Lkeating@gannett.com

Syd Cole, one of the best volleyball players in University of Northern Colorado history, found a new home for her second professional season.

Next month, Cole will move to Switzerland to play with a club in the Swiss Women’s Volleyball League.

Cole, 23, will join VC Kanti Schaffhausen for the 2025-26 season. Cole played earlier this year with the Vegas Thrill of the second-year Pro Volleyball Federation. She moved to Las Vegas not long after finishing her collegiate career with the Bears.

UNC, which set a program record for wins in 2024, advanced to the National Invitational Volleyball Championship semifinals in December. The Bears earned a bid to the NIVC after a second-place finish to Sacramento State at the Big Sky Conference Tournament. UNC won the Big Sky Conference regular-season title last year.

“I definitely want to try Europe just one time, because if I have the opportunity, I might as well take it,” Cole said. “Vegas was a cool experience, learning from all those girls who have been playing pro forever, basically.”

Originally from Parker, Cole had not been away from home before moving to Las Vegas. She found the experience not to be as scary as she thought it might be.

Cole, who plays the position of setter, is the only UNC player to earn All-American honors in the program’s Division I era. She was an honorable mention All-American in 2022 and 2024. Four other players in UNC volleyball history, including its Division II days, earned multiple All-American honors.

Cole was a two-time Big Sky Conference first-team selection in five seasons with the Bears. In 2022, she was the conference player of the year, and she was the setter of the year in 2023. Last fall, she was named the Big Sky Most Valuable Player and setter of the year. Cole was also selected to the conference all-tournament team.

Cole said she didn’t see a lot of playing time in matches with the Thrill. Her experience came mostly through practice. Cole was behind former U.S. National Team standout and NCAA champion Alisha Glass Childress on the Thrill depth chart.

Glass Childress, 37, was a member of the bronze-medal squad at the Rio Summer Olympics in 2016 and the gold-medal winning team at the 2014 World Championships. She is a two-time USA Volleyball Female Indoor Athlete of the Year. Glass Childress played college volleyball at Penn State, one of the best Division I programs in the NCAA and where she was a three-time national champion with the Nittany Lions.

Cole said she learned a lot about leadership from playing behind Glass Childress and experiencing her on-court demeanor.

“Going pro, you’re not playing with these girls all the time like you are in college,” Cole said. “You’re just kind of thrown in there with random people. So her leadership, just being able to bring everyone together as a team. She does not get frazzled at all.”

Cole said she heard from Schaffhausen head coach Nicki Neubauer while she was in Las Vegas, requesting a phone call. As a professional athlete, Cole, of course, has an agent. There were contacts with Schaffhausen.

Schaffhausen is located in northern Switzerland on the Rhine River near the border with Germany.

Schaffhausen’s preseason begins Sept. 1, Cole said. The club’s match schedule start in October and runs into April.

“I like this coach. I want to play for him and see what it’s like overseas,” Cole said.