Nike appoints new COO and reshapes senior leadership team
Nike creates a chief operating officer role, adds geography heads to its top team and removes two executive positions as part of leadership changes.
Nike has created a new executive vice-president and chief operating officer role and reshaped its senior leadership team in a move intended to simplify management and strengthen links with consumers and the marketplace, according to a company statement to employees on Tuesday.
Venkatesh Alagirisamy, chief supply chain officer and a nearly 20-year veteran of the company, will become executive vice-president and chief operating officer on December 8, reporting to Elliott Hill, president and chief executive. In the expanded role he will take charge of technology as well as supply chain, planning, operations, manufacturing and sustainability.
Hill said the change would allow his team “to look end-to-end to ensure technology is fully integrated across the company and into how we create, plan, make, deliver and sell our world-class innovations across our three iconic brands.”
With technology moving under Alagirisamy, Nike is removing the executive vice-president, chief technology officer position and Dr Muge Dogan will leave the company.
The leaders of Nike’s four geographies, Angela Dong for Greater China, Carl Grebert for Europe, Middle East and Africa, Tom Peddie for North America and Cathy Sparks for Asia Pacific and Latin America, will join the senior leadership team and report to Hill. The executive vice-president, chief commercial officer role held by Craig Williams is also being removed.
Global sales and Nike Direct will now report to Matt Friend, executive vice-president and chief financial officer, who already oversees strategy work. Hill said the shift was “about growth and offense, giving Sales and Nike Direct an even stronger voice in how we set strategy and invest,” and added that the changes “amount to us eliminating layers and better positioning Nike to continue to have an impact the way only Nike can.”
The recap
- Nike creates EVP, COO role and appoints Venkatesh Alagirisamy.
- Company eliminates CTO and CCO positions; two executives depart.
- Geography leaders join senior team; Sales moves under CFO Friend.
