Asics North America reports that Koichiro Kodama is returning to Asics North America as President and CEO, replacing Richard Sullivan, effective immediately. Sullivan had been President and CEO for North America since January 2022, having served as President and COO since October 2020. He initially joined the company as President of Asics Canada in 2016.
Kodama will continue to serve as Managing Executive Officer at Asics headquarters in Kobe, Japan, while overseeing all facets of the company’s business and operations in Canada, Mexico and the USA for Performance Running, Sports Style, Apparel and Accessories and Core Performance Sports. He joined Asics the same year as Sullivan and was named Managing Executive Officer at Asics’ Japan headquarters in early 2021, where his responsibilities included geographic strategy, retail, global subsidiaries and crisis management. He previously served as CEO of Asics North America from February 2019 to December 2020.
Reasons for the CEO replacement were not officially given. According to the company’s latest quarterly report (Q2), released in August, net sales in the North America region grew 17.4 percent, driven by strong sales in the performance running category and the core performance sports category. While the brand raised its full-year guidance based on solid performance in the first two quarters of 2023, it also said at the time that it expects most of its growth to come from Japan, Greater China and Southeast and South Asia.
