The current CEO of Nike, Mark Parker, is stepping down on 13 January 2020. John Donahoe is going to succeed him. (Image via Forbes)

Former head of E-Bay to be the next Nike CEO

Alfonsus Adi Putra
Business & Industry
Internet & IT
Oct 23, 2019
1737
On Tuesday, an American footwear and sports gears manufacturer, Nike, announced that its CEO, Mark Parker (64) will step down from the position. Having been involved in Nike since 1979 as a footwear designer, Parker made his way to become the CEO in 2006.

Parker revealed that the next CEO position will be handled by John Donahoe (59), the former head of E-Bay, the chairman of PayPal, the president of ServiceNow, and also a board member in Nike since 2014.

Donahoe is expected to begin his duty starting on 13 January 2020 as Parker will be the executive chairman. The appointment of Donahoe is a reflection of how Nike has been relying on technology and digital computing to put its brand on the upper hand.

Two years ago, Parker introduced “Consumer Direct Offense” to reach consumers more effectively and push its e-commerce sales. With Donahoe on board, Nike is expected to develop the system even better.

There were several candidates to succeed Parker and many expected that the next CEO would come from inside Nike. The former Brand President of Nike, Trevor Edwards, for example. However, Edwards resigned due to the sexism behavior in Nike.

In Spring 2018, several lawsuits also went against Nike’s sexism work environment about the payment discrimination against female workers and the outrageous treatment against its pregnant athletes.

Parker also could not escape from misconduct. The most recent case entangling Parker was the Nike Oregon Project scandal. Alberto Salazar, the coach for the Nike Oregon Project, was proven guilty of breaching anti-doping regulation. He has been banned four years from any track and field activity. However, Parker denied that the case had anything to do with his resignation as CEO.

Despite being CEO for 13 years, Parker had been contributing to Nike for 40 years and counting. He is not going anywhere, as what he said still being the executive chairman.

For runners, you can thank Mark Parker, being credited for the invention of Nike Air, air bubble cushioning that now widely seen in Nike shoe products.

During his reign, Parker encouraged Nike to do more research to enlarge its patent portfolio. By 2018, Nike had patented 867 patents. The businessman who is turning 65 by next year also led the company to gain more. By 2019, Nike booked more than US$39 billion annual revenue, compared to the time he started, US$15 billion in 2006.

Source: https://cnn.it/2MZBgGw

Business , Footwear , Internet , Data , U.S , Nike , Mark-Parker , John-Donahoe