The VP Business Unit Core role is a new position born from PUMA splitting Sportstyle and Core into separate teams, raising the question of how the split will reshape commercial strategy.
PUMA has named Marcia Dos Santos vice president, business unit (BU) Core, effective July 15. The newly created role puts her in charge of the company’s Core division, reporting to Chief Brand Officer Maria Valdes. The move follows PUMA’s decision to split its business into two dedicated units, Sportstyle and Core, as part of an ongoing transformation effort.
The Core division spans performance categories such as football, running and training. Leadership has described it as PUMA’s commercial engine, and the outside hire signals how seriously the company is treating the restructuring.
Dos Santos joins PUMA from Nike, where she spent more than 20 years in the sporting goods industry, most recently as vice president, merchandising, women’s EMEA. The role covered go-to-market and merchandising strategy across women’s, men’s and kids’ categories, experience Valdes cited in announcing the hire, pointing to Dos Santos’ track record in delivering commercial results and building teams across regions and product lines.
The appointment extends a reorganization already under way: in February 2026, PUMA split Training from Running into its own business unit, naming Marwin Hoffmann, a 20-year industry veteran from Adidas, as Vice President BU Training, part of a broader move toward dedicated leadership across its four global focus categories.
