Dive Brief:
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Muge Erdirik Dogan, who led Amazon Fashion for nearly three years and spent 16 years at the e-commerce giant, will be chief technology officer at Nike, effective Nov. 27, reporting to Nike CEO John Donahoe, the company announced Tuesday in a press release.
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Her hire is just one of a slew of leadership changes at Nike, including the departure of Chief Marketing Officer Dirk-Jan “DJ” van Hameren, a 31-year company veteran. Nicole Hubbard Graham, co-founder of minority-owned creative agency Adopt and previously at Nike for 18 years, will replace van Hameren on Jan. 2.
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Effective immediately, 30-year Nike veteran John Hoke was named chief innovation officer. Hoke partnered with President of Innovation Tom Clarke “to amplify and accelerate Nike’s innovation strategy and distinction.” Succeeding Hoke as chief design officer is 26-year Nike designer Martin Lotti, most recently chief design officer for the Jordan Brand.
Dive Insight:
For the most part, except for the hiring of Amazon Fashion’s Dogan, these most recent changes at Nike lean on longtime company veterans. But they are expected to “deliver new levels of performance, style and breakthrough storytelling for consumers around the world,” Heidi O’Neill, Nike president of consumer, product and brand, said in a statement.
“Innovation, design, and storytelling have always been the heart and soul of Nike,” she said. “These leadership changes enable us to obsess further our unparalleled innovation, product, design, and storytelling to reimagine sport for the next generation of athletes.”
Shaking up leadership has become a habit at the sports apparel company this year. It began in February, with the departure of Global Chief Digital Information Officer Ratnakar Lavu. Other leadership changes followed a few months later, with a new president for the Jordan Brand and a new head of North America. Responsibilities for several of its core leadership team were also expanded in May.
The company’s focus has also shifted in order to expand direct-to-consumer sales. Despite that, this year the brand took pains to say that DTC and wholesale are both important channels. By mid-year Nike had restored partnerships with retailers, including Macy’s and DSW, that had previously been dropped.
In its most recent quarter, sales in North America — its biggest region — fell 1.6% and overall net income fell slightly year over year to $1.45 billion. But the company’s digital revenue rose 2% and Nike Direct revenue grew 6%, with inventory down 10%.
Amazon last week confirmed that Dogan had stepped down and that company veteran Jenny Freshwater will take her place. As Nike CTO, Dogan will “further deepen and strengthen the speed, efficiency, and quality of Nike’s consumer experiences with products, platforms, and services,” with tech innovation to accelerate Nike’s growth plans, the company said in a press release.
“Muge is a consumer-driven leader who prioritizes connecting technology and science to customer experience, product innovation, and supply chain efficiency to drive profitable growth,” Donahoe said in a statement. “She joins our deep bench of leadership talent across the enterprise that will lead us to capitalize on the great opportunities ahead.”
