South Baltimore’s favorite publicly traded athletic wear maker has appointed a new president and chief operating officer while still keeping its founder, CEO and board chairman Kevin Plank at the helm.
The firm announced this morning that Patrik Frisk will step in as its new president and COO on July 10. He most recently served as CEO of global footwear and accessories company The Aldo Group, and previously held top gigs with Timberland and The North Face, among others. Under Armour’s chief revenue, product, supply chain and marketing officers and its president of strategy will all report to Frisk.
“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,” Plank said in a statement.
Plank will no longer be president — a role he’s occupied since 2010 — but will remain the executive face and overseer of the company. In a release, Under Armour said the move is part of a top-level shakeup designed to boost the company’s digital business and operational efficiency and move it closer to a category management strategy.
Some other major C-level changes at Under Armour include promoting Paul Fipps from chief information officer and VP of global operations to chief technology officer, elevating president of global sourcing Colin Browne to chief supply chain officer and making senior VP of global merchandising Kevin Eskridge UA’s new chief product officer. Fipps will also be tasked with leading the company’s techy Connected Fitness suite of athletic products.
Under Armour revised its growth projection for 2017 earlier this year after it missed the mark for fourth quarter 2016 revenue, an announcement that spooked investors at the time and led to the departure of its chief financial officer. Plank said then that the company viewed this year as a chance to refocus its attention to “investing smartly in innovation,” including its tech products.
The earnings miss was just one part of a rough beginning to the year for Under Armour. Plank drew the ire of customers and his own endorsers after voicing support for President Donald Trump in an interview on CNBC. The CEO eventually penned a letter to the city reaffirming his commitment to immigrants, diversity and developing Baltimore, and was ready to speak out the next time Trump did something that angered the masses.
This morning, Plank said the executive suite shakeup “underscores our work toward evolving from a great brand with good operations – to a great brand with great operations.”
The personnel changes come just two days after Plank appeared on NBC’s “Today Show” to give a tour of the company’s “top secret” facility, The Lighthouse in Port Covington.
