Lululemon Hires Athleta Head in Management Shakeup

Lululemon Athletica Inc. poached the head of Gap Inc.’s struggling sportswear brand as part of a shuffling of management roles under new chief executive Heidi O’Neill.

Maggie Gauger will take on the newly created role of president and chief product officer starting Oct. 26, the company said Wednesday in a statement. Gauger had previously been the CEO of Gap’s Athleta brand and used to work with O’Neill at Nike Inc.

The move is the first big change since O’Neill took the reins of Lululemon on Sept. 8. She is facing pressure to revive sales at the yogawear retailer, whose shares have lost more than half their value this year. The former Nike executive will have to help the company navigate a sales slowdown fueled by intense competition and complaints about the quality of its leggings.

Shares of Vancouver-based Lululemon were little changed in extended trading in New York late Wednesday.

O’Neill was named to the top job earlier this year and since then, a number of executives have left the company, including its chief strategy officer, its chief technology officer and its chief communications officer, leaving a number of key roles to be filled. The company announced Wednesday that the chief brand and product activation officer and the chief supply chain officer are also departing.

Joseph Godsey, formerly of Walmart Canada, was named Lululemon’s new chief operating officer. The company said that it’s searching for its next chief brand officer, as well as heads of technology and communications.

Some roles that once reported to the CEO don’t appear on an updated organisational chart shared in an employee memo and reviewed by Bloomberg News. Bloomberg had previously reported that O’Neill was considering new ways to organize the company’s C-suite.

Creative Director Jonathan Cheung, who used to report to the CEO’s office, will be under Gauger, according to the memo. The updated chart doesn’t have a supply chain chief reporting directly to O’Neill.

The company didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment on the changes.

In May, the company reached a truce with its outspoken founder, Chip Wilson, which temporarily paused months of sparring between the two. As part of that settlement, the company agreed to appoint a new director to its board who has apparel and brand expertise, but the two parties agreed to extend that deadline, without providing details on the delay or how long the extension would be.

By Lily Meier

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