lululemon has ended its CEO search with a Nike hire: Heidi O’Neill, most recently President, Consumer, Product & Brand at the sportswear giant, takes the top job on Sept. 8, 2026.
lululemon athletica has appointed Heidi O’Neill, a longtime executive at Nike, as its next Chief Executive Officer, the company said. O’Neill is set to start on Sept. 8, 2026, and will join lululemon’s board at that time. The board approved the appointment unanimously following what lululemon described as a comprehensive search.
O’Neill spent more than 25 years at Nike and most recently served as President, Consumer, Product & Brand, overseeing product, brand and consumer-facing teams. Earlier in her tenure, she held leadership roles spanning direct-to-consumer and digital operations, including retail, e-commerce and membership, and managed commercial operations across more than 170 countries with profit-and-loss responsibility.
The appointment comes as lululemon faces slowing momentum in its core North American business and intensifying competition in the premium activewear market. Bringing in an executive with deep experience in product, brand building and DTC execution suggests the board is looking to sharpen the company’s positioning and improve product cadence as it pushes for growth internationally.
Until O’Neill’s start date, she will remain in an advisory capacity. Interim co-CEOs Meghan Frank and André Maestrini will continue to lead the business until the transition, after which the company expects both to return to their previous senior leadership roles.
O’Neill began her career in advertising at Foote, Cone & Belding and later worked at Levi Strauss & Co., including as Director of Marketing for the Dockers brand. She currently sits on the boards of Spotify Technology, Hyatt Hotels and Lithia & Driveway.
This article was updated on Thursday 23 April at 16:00 CEST
Investors did not greet the announcement with enthusiasm. LULU shares fell around 5% in after-hours trading on the day of the announcement and extended those losses during the following session, with the stock down close to 12% intraday. The share price has now lost more than 20% since the start of the year — a stretch of underperformance that stretches back to the all-time highs the stock reached in 2023. The market’s reaction likely reflects less a judgment on O’Neill personally and more a broader concern: lululemon has not yet demonstrated a clear path to reaccelerating North American growth, and a new CEO starting in September means an extended period of strategic uncertainty before any meaningful pivot can be executed.
