Under Armour names Patrik Frisk as company's president

01 Jul '17

3 min read

Patrik Frisk

Under Armour has announced Patrik Frisk as the company's president and chief operating officer (COO). The company has also announced strategic executive changes to align its organisational structure to better leverage its digital business, support its move toward category management, and drive greater operational efficiency across the organisation.

The appointment becomes effective July 10, 2017.

As president and COO of Under Armour, 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 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," Plank added.

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.

In addition, 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 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 personalisation, increase speed to market and accelerate consumer value. He will report directly to Plank.

Colin Browne has been named chief supply chain officer with responsibility for all global operations related to product sourcing and logistics. Browne joined Under Armour in 2016 as president of Global Sourcing.

Additionally, in May, Kevin Eskridge was named chief product officer. Eskridge has oversight of the company's category management model, as well as its product, merchandising, design and innovation functions.

"Today's leadership appointments and the streamlining of our organisational structure are transformative steps focused on a sharper, consumer-led approach and go-to-market strategy through our category management lens. With the stated goals of accelerating our innovation agenda, optimising our product assortment and creating a merchandising centre of excellence, this underscores our work toward evolving from a great brand with good operations - to a great brand with great operations," continued Plank. (SV)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk – India

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