Lululemon named its next chief executive as former Nike veteran Heidi O’Neill will take over as CEO as the athleisure wear brand mounts a continued turnaround strategy.
The move was announced on Wednesday after a year of slumping sales and an ongoing public proxy battle with founder Chip Wilson, who has been critical of how the brand has performed.
“Heidi is an inspiring leader and proven, consumer-driven brand strategist, with a rare ability to both imagine a new future for a brand and to create the structure and processes to deliver on that vision,” Marti Morfitt, Lululemon’s executive chair of the board of directors, said in a statement. “We selected Heidi because of the breadth of her experience, her demonstrated success delivering breakthrough ideas and initiatives at scale, and her ability to be a knowledgeable change and growth agent. We are excited to have Heidi join Lululemon and bring her strategic and creative vision to the company.”
O’Neill will take on the role in September after former chief executive Calvin McDonald stepped down in January after seven years and deal with intense pressure to revive the brand as its stock price dipped by nearly half last year. The company has face competition from younger rivals like Vuori and Alo in the athleisure segment it helped define.
Lululemon’s chief financial officer, Meghan Frank, and chief commercial officer, André Maestrini, now serve as interim co-chief executives and will step aside once O’Neill arrives in the fall.
“As I step into the CEO role in September, my job will be to build on that foundation – to accelerate product breakthroughs, deepen the brand’s cultural relevance, and unlock growth in markets around the world,” O’Neill said. “I am humbled by the opportunity and energized by what the team is already building. I look forward to joining the company and helping to define and deliver the organization’s next chapter of success.”
O’Neill has held several roles at Nike over 27 years, with stints at Levis, Hyatt and Spotify and will start with a base salary of $1.4 million, according regulatory filings.
But her appointment comes as Wilson’s proxy battle with the company’s board members fueled an already tense relationship with the brand he founded in 1999.
In late December, Wilson nominated three board candidates that he believed could help lead the brand’s search for new leadership, while activist investor Elliott Management took a reported $1 billion stake in the brand a week prior. Elliott reportedly looked to push for former Ralph Lauren chief executive Jane Nielsen to replace McDonald.
Meanwhile, O’Neill’s roadmap for the company will have to come in the form of a drastic pivot after he tenure at Nike ended amid the sportswear maker’s turn away from wholesalers, longtime partners like Foot Locker and online giant Amazon. Instead, Nike relied on its own direct-to-consumer channels and retail stores under former chief John Donahoe, who took on the role in 2020.
The move largely backfired and O’Neill stepped down from the company last year after Elliott Hill rejoined the company in late 2024 as CEO and implemented a new plan to focus on performance sports while shifting several executive role.
Share of Lululemon fell by as much as 12 percent on Thursday following the news of O’Neill’s appointment, its lowest level since 2020.
