Wolverine World Wide, Inc. (WWW), owner of lifestyle and footwear brands including Merrell, Saucony, Sperry, Sweaty Betty, Hush Puppies, Wolverine, Chaco and Stride Rite, this week made several executive appointments. The changes were made “to help drive future growth and accelerate its global brand-building efforts” and build on the strategic transformation initiated last year.
First and foremost, the company has named Chris Hufnagel President of WWW, responsible for leading and executing strategy across the company’s portfolio of footwear brands and managing the consumer marketing and insights teams. In his 14-year career at Wolverine Worldwide, Hufnagel’s roles have included Global Brand President of Cat Footwear, Global Brand President of Merrell and, most recently, President of the company’s Active Group, where he was responsible for Merrell, Saucony, Chaco, Kids Group and Global Licensing. In previous positions at WWW, he was president of DTC and Corporate Senior Vice President and Head of Strategy. Before joining the company, Hufnagel held senior roles at Under Armour, Gap and Abercrombie & Fitch. As president of the company, Hufnagel will continue to report to Brendan Hoffman, CEO of Wolverine Worldwide.
Wolverine Worldwide also announced the appointment of two key brand executives: Janice Tennant has been promoted to Global Brand President of Merrell, and Rob Griffiths is Saucony’s new Global Brand President. Griffiths succeeds Anne Cavassa, who joined Saucony in May 2018 as its first female president after over 20 years and just days ago left the company.
Tennant has been Chief Marketing Officer of Merrell since 2020, after joining the company in 2018 as Chief Marketing Officer of Cat Footwear. She has received several industry awards, most recently being named in Forbes Magazine’s 2023 Entrepreneurial CMOs 50 list. Before joining the company, she held a number of senior marketing and other positions at Kimberly-Clark and PepsiCo. Tennant will report to Hufnagel.
Griffiths joined Wolverine Worldwide in 2021 as Managing Director, EMEA, responsible for leading the company’s commercial activities in this important region. In previous roles, he was VP and GM of Merrell in EMEA and VP and GM of Lifestyle Brands in EMEA. Before joining Wolverine Worldwide in 2013, he spent 15 years with global brands Esprit and Umbro. Griffiths will also report to Hufnagel.
