On June 17, Ratnakar Lavu became Nike's first global chief...

On June 17, Ratnakar Lavu became Nike's first global chief digital information officer, in charge of digital technologies. He reports to Eric Sprunk, chief operating officer. Lavu was most recently chief technology and information officer at Kohl's, the American retail chain, heading up its IT, digital and consumer technology. Before that, he was chief technology officer at Redbox, famous in the U.S. for its automated rental kiosks for DVDs and videogames. Nike has been expanding its digital capabilities not only to deal with customers personally, as with the NikeLab initiative, but to streamline the company's own operations, by reducing lead times, speeding up design cycles and minimizing the need for physical samples.