BALTIMORE, June 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Under Armour,
Inc. (NYSE: UA, UAA) today announced Patrik
Frisk will become the company's President and Chief
Operating Officer (COO) effective July
10. In conjunction with Mr. Frisk's appointment, the company
also announced strategic executive changes to align its
organizational structure to better leverage its digital business,
support its move toward category management, and drive greater
operational efficiency across the organization.
As President and COO of Under Armour, Mr. Frisk will have
responsibility for the company's go-to-market strategy and the
successful execution of its long-term growth plan. He will report
directly to Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Kevin Plank. The following executives will
report to Mr. Frisk: Charlie
Maurath, Chief Revenue Officer; Kevin Eskridge, Chief Product Officer;
Andy Donkin, Chief Marketing
Officer; Colin Browne, Chief Supply
Chain officer; and, Kevin Haley,
President of Strategy.
"Patrik's global experience in brand building, including a
proven and disciplined record of driving growth, while enhancing
profitability and efficiency, will be instrumental as we work to
transform our business model to deliver long-term value for our
consumers, customers and shareholders," said Plank. "The
opportunity to leverage our strengths – innovative product, brand
strength, premium sports marketing assets and unparalleled consumer
connections – within an increasingly more digital ecosystem has
never been greater."
Mr. Frisk has nearly 30 years' experience in the apparel,
footwear and retail industry. Most recently, he was CEO of The ALDO
Group, a global footwear and accessories company. Previous to that,
he spent 10 years with VF Corporation where he served as the
Coalition President of Outdoor Americas with responsibility for The
North Face®, Timberland®, JanSport®, lucy® and SmartWool® brands.
Before that, he was President of the Timberland® brand and prior to
that, was President of Outdoor & Action Sports (EMEA) where he
had responsibility for The North Face®, Vans®, JanSport® and Reef®
brands. Previous to that, he was Vice President and General Manager
of The North Face®. Before VF Corporation, he ran his own retail
business in Scandinavia and held senior positions with Peak
Performance and W.L. Gore &
Associates.
Additional Management Changes
Paul Fipps has been named Chief Technology
Officer with responsibility for overseeing all aspects of
engineering that support Under Armour's web and mobile
applications, as well as its information technology and real estate
functions. Additionally, he will lead Under Armour's Connected
Fitness business with Chief Digital Officer and head of Connected
Fitness Michael Lee reporting to Mr. Fipps directly. This
realignment integrates the company's digital ecosystem including
its single view of the consumer data and additional SAP
capabilities to fuel product creation and personalization, increase
speed to market and accelerate consumer value. He will report
directly to Mr. Plank. Most recently, he served as the company's
Chief Information Officer and Executive Vice President of Global
Operations after joining Under Armour in 2014 as Senior Vice
President of Global Operations. Prior to joining the company, he
served as Chief Information Officer and Corporate Vice President of
Business Services at The Charmer Sunbelt Group.
Colin Browne has been named Chief
Supply Chain Officer with responsibility for all global operations
related to product sourcing and logistics. Mr. Browne joined Under
Armour in 2016 as President of Global Sourcing. Prior to that, he
was Vice President and Managing Director of Supply Chain at VF
Corporation (VF), where he led all aspects of the company's
sourcing and product supply organization in Asia. Before VF, Mr. Browne was the Executive
Vice President of Footwear and Accessories at Li & Fung, CEO of
Pentland Brands in Asia, and held senior leadership positions at
Reebok and Bally.
Additionally, in May, Kevin
Eskridge was named Chief Product Officer. Mr. Eskridge has
oversight of the company's category management model, as well as
its product, merchandising, design and innovation functions. He has
been with the company since 2009, and has served in various
leadership roles, including establishing the company business in
China as Managing Director, its
Outdoor business, and most recently served as Senior Vice
President, Global Merchandising.
In addition to Mr. Frisk and Mr. Fipps, continuing to report to
Mr. Plank will be the following executives: Kip Fulks, Strategic Advisor; Kerry Chandler, Chief Human Resources Officer;
John Stanton, Senior Vice President,
General Counsel and Corporate Secretary; and, David Bergman, Chief Financial Officer
(Acting).
"Today's leadership appointments and the streamlining of our
organizational structure are transformative steps focused on a
sharper, consumer-led approach and go-to-market strategy through
our category management lens," continued Plank. "With the stated
goals of accelerating our innovation agenda, optimizing our product
assortment and creating a merchandising center of excellence, this
underscores our work toward evolving from a great brand with good
operations – to a great brand with great operations."
About Under Armour, Inc.
Under Armour, the
originator of performance footwear, apparel and equipment,
revolutionized how athletes across the world dress. Designed to
make all athletes better, the brand's innovative products are sold
worldwide to athletes at all levels. The Under Armour Connected
Fitness™ platform powers the world's largest digital health and
fitness community through a suite of applications: UA Record,
MapMyFitness, Endomondo and MyFitnessPal. The Under Armour global
headquarters is in Baltimore,
Maryland. For further information, please visit
www.uabiz.com.
Forward Looking Statements
Some of the
statements contained in this press release constitute
forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements relate to
expectations, beliefs, projections, future plans and strategies,
anticipated events or trends and similar expressions concerning
matters that are not historical facts, such as statements regarding
our future financial condition or results of operations, our
prospects and strategies for future growth, the development and
introduction of new products, the implementation of our marketing
and branding strategies, and the future benefits and opportunities
from acquisitions and other significant investments. In many cases,
you can identify forward-looking statements by terms such as "may,"
"will," "should," "expects," "plans," "assumes," "anticipates,"
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forward-looking statements contained in this press release reflect
our current views about future events and are subject to risks,
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cause events or our actual activities or results to differ
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the forward-looking statements are reasonable, we cannot guarantee
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these forward-looking statements. A number of important factors
could cause actual results to differ materially from those
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limited to: changes in general economic or market conditions that
could affect overall consumer spending or our industry; changes to
the financial health of our customers; our ability to effectively
manage our growth and a more complex global business; our ability
to effectively drive operational efficiency in our business; our
ability to comply with existing trade and other regulations, and
the potential impact of new trade and tax regulations on our
profitability; our ability to successfully manage or realize
expected results from acquisitions and other significant
investments or capital expenditures; our ability to effectively
develop and launch new, innovative and updated products; increased
competition causing us to lose market share or reduce the prices of
our products or to increase significantly our marketing efforts;
our ability to accurately forecast consumer demand for our products
and manage our inventory in response to changing demands;
fluctuations in the costs of our products; loss of key suppliers or
manufacturers or failure of our suppliers or manufacturers to
produce or deliver our products in a timely or cost-effective
manner, including due to port disruptions; our ability to further
expand our business globally and to drive brand awareness and
consumer acceptance of our products in other countries; our ability
to accurately anticipate and respond to seasonal or quarterly
fluctuations in our operating results; risks related to foreign
currency exchange rate fluctuations; our ability to effectively
market and maintain a positive brand image; the availability,
integration and effective operation of information systems and
other technology, as well as any potential interruption in such
systems or technology; risks related to data security or privacy
breaches; our ability to raise additional capital required to grow
our business on terms acceptable to us; our potential exposure to
litigation and other proceedings; and our ability to attract key
talent and retain the services of our senior management and key
employees. The forward-looking statements contained in this press
release reflect our views and assumptions only as of the date of
this press release. We undertake no obligation to update any
forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances after
the date on which the statement is made or to reflect the
occurrence of unanticipated events.
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SOURCE Under Armour, Inc.