Under Armour, the sports garment and apparel giant recently saw a shuffle in the top management when the news of Adrienne Lofton, the Company’s Marketing Executive walking away broke out. A similar news from that of its competitors, Nike, shedding its two marketing executives was doing the rounds more often.
Sources highly placed in the company, as well as Trade analyst, suspect that Lofton might be going to Nike as there is an executive level vacancy there. Adrienne Lofton, on the other hand, has had not confirmed anything movement of that kind lately.
If we believe the two sources familiar with the matter, Adrienne Lofton, who had spent the last eight months with Under Armour overseeing the Global Marketing efforts have already accepted the position with Nike. The Global Head of Brand Management, Lofton, resigned from the company after around nine years and two stints with the sports apparel giant as per AdWeek.
Executive Level shuffle from Under Armour to Nike?
Reports have been doing the rounds that Adrienne Lofton was offered an executive level position from Nike after it shifted two senior executives. The competition between the two athletic wear giants has grown obvious since Under Armour’s rise after 2005. But the report has yet not been supported by spokespersons for Nike and Under Armour who have not responded to request for comment on this story. Lofton too did not respond to the allegations of shift and the media queries about her new position at Nike.
However, it is highly motivating a fact that Adrienne might be going to Nike as the news of her resignation comes amidst a wrecking report of how Nike parted ways with its two top marketing executives. The fire of executives came after a controversy regarding the repeated complaints about inappropriate behavior in the workplace. Nike took actions by firing them.
Why did Nike fire its Two Top Executives?
In March, CEO Mark Parker issued an internal memo expressing his concern over “reports of behavior occurring within our organization that does not reflect our core values of inclusivity, respect, and empowerment.” Citing “strong and courageous employees” who had come forward, he wrote that the company would launch “a comprehensive review of our HR systems and practices along with elevating our complaint process for a matter of respect issues.” The two executives he was talking about were VP Jayme Martin and Brand President Trevor Edwards who was a potential successor to Mark Parker.
Such allegations were repeatedly included in subsequent reports by The Wall Street Journal who cited a ‘boys club’ at Nike where the aforementioned parties involved into a ‘demeaning and condescending’ behavior towards women. The report also cited that several women employees had circulated an informal survey about Pay inequality, gender imbalances, and misbehavior by the top authorities and executives Monique Matheson acknowledged in a memo acquired by the journal hat Nike had failed to properly promote women rights and minorities values within its peripheries.
What would Adrienne Lofton do at Nike?
Sources in Nike suggest that the company might offer Adrienne Lofton the vacant Position of Brand President as she has the correct expertise in the same field at Under Armour. But Lofton, given a condition where she accepts the position from Nike, will not be able to officially begin working at Nike for one year due to the Non-compete clause in the contract she had signed with Under Armour.