Jon Donahoe replaces Mark Parker as Nike CEO

Early next year, Mark Parker will resign as CEO of sports brand Nike. He will be succeeded by John Donahoe, currently CEO at Paypal and former CEO of eBay.

Accelerating digital transformation

The transfer of power will take place on 13 January 2020. The new CEO has been a director of Nike since 2014, and is also currently the CEO of ServiceNow. In a statement, Parker highlighted Donahoe’s expertise in both digital commerce and technology, and said he was “ideally suited to accelerate our digital transformation.”

Parker will remain Chairman of the Board of Directors. He joined the sports company in 1979 and was appointed CEO in 2006. His resignation comes just a few weeks after the end of the Oregon Project, a training group led by athletics coach Alberto Salazar. He was suspended for four years at the beginning of this month by the American anti-doping agency USADA, for various violations of doping legislation. According to some analysts, Parker was aware of Salazar’s dubious practices, but denies that his resignation had anything to do with the matter.