Shortly after HanesBrands announced that Jonathan Ram is leaving as president of global activewear on March 31 to take a position with another company and to be closer to his family, Clarks announced in turn that he would be the British company’s new CEO in April, taking the place of Victor Herrero. The industry veteran’s move back to the U.K. has been swift, as he had been elected in January to succeed Dan Armant as chairman of the U.S. sporting goods industry association, the SFIA. His successors at HanesBrands and the SFIA have not yet been named.
Ram had already spent more than four years in the U.K. as managing director of New Balance for the EMEA region between 2007 and 2012. After running Roots, the Canadian outdoor lifestyle company, and working for Major League Baseball and the NBA, Ram first joined New Balance in 2002 as head of its Canadian operations. He spent a total of 16 years with the company in various positions, also leading Latin America and North America, taking care of marketing and supervising the brand’s diversification into apparel.
At HanesBrands, which he joined in his current position in 2018, he has been largely responsible for the fulgurant progress of the iconic Champion brand, whose global sales have grown from $1.4 billion in 2017 to around $2 billion in 2021, with a recently increased target of $3.2 billion by 2024.
Clarks, which also boasts a long and strong tradition, has undergone several leadership changes in recent years. Herrero became its CEO in February 2021 in the wake of the takeover of a controlling stake in the leading international casual footwear brand by a Hong Kong-based private equity firm, Lionrock Capital. Herrero took the place of Giorgio Presca, a former CEO of Geox.
Another long-serving executive of New Balance, Olivier Motteau, was hired by Clarks a few weeks ago to run its European operations outside the U.K. and Ireland.
