Former Nike executive to take over as Lululemon’s new CEO
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Lululemon Athletica Inc. is putting its trust in a former Nike executive after facing months of backlash about the company’s management and performance.
The Vancouver-based athleisure retailer announced Wednesday that Heidi O’Neill will become its next chief executive officer on Sept. 8, when she will also join its board.
The company said she was chosen for the role because of her experience, “success delivering breakthrough ideas and initiatives at scale, and her ability to be a knowledgeable change and growth agent.”
“Heidi is an inspiring leader and proven, consumer-driven brand strategist, with a rare ability to both imagine a new future for a brand and to create the structure and processes to deliver on that vision,” Lululemon executive board chair Marti Morfitt said in a statement.
Lululemon CEO Calvin McDonald is stepping down in January. This comes after the company witnessed a near 50 per cent share fall in the last year. The Canadian-born executive’s announcement sent Lululemon’s shares surging roughly 10 per cent in extended trading on Thursday.
Her appointment comes amid a turbulent chapter for Lululemon, the yoga pants juggernaut that’s been inundated with competition from trendy upstarts and massive brands like the one O’Neill used to run.
Shareholders, including Lululemon’s estranged founder Chip Wilson, started pressing last year for the company to appoint new board members that would better address rivals, its sagging share price and a product mix some felt was getting stale.
Wilson, who has not worked for Lululemon for years but still holds some of its stock, wanted former On Holding AG co-CEO Marc Maurer, former ESPN chief marketing officer Laura Gentile and ex-Activision CEO Eric Hirshberg named as board members.
His spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment about O’Neill’s appointment Wednesday.
Their calls for action came after Lululemon CEO Calvin McDonald announced in December that he would step down.
When he left in January, chief financial officer Meghan Frank and chief operating officer André Maestrini became interim co-CEOs as the search for McDonald’s successor continued.
They will continue to share the top job until O’Neill starts, when they will return to their other executive roles, Lululemon said Wednesday.
The company…
Read More: Former Nike executive to take over as Lululemon’s new CEO