As Brooks Running announces that Jim Weber will step down as CEO after 23 years, the company also unveils that Dan Sheridan, who currently serves as the company’s President and Chief Operating Officer, will take over the position effective April 26, 2024.
Weber, who at the time had already held executive positions at sporting goods companies such as Sims Snowboards and Coleman, joined the Brooks board in 1999 and in 2001 became the ailing brand’s fourth CEO within two years. Despite strong headwinds, he established Brooks’ long-term strategy and focus on performance run, leading his team to steadily execute against the brand’s purpose for more than two decades. As a result, during Weber’s tenure, Brooks went from the brink of bankruptcy to a billion-dollar brand and a leader in the highly competitive global running category.
“I am incredibly proud of all Brooks has accomplished in my time here, the foundations we’ve built, and the position Brooks is in to continue its growth in 2024 and beyond,” said Weber. “Dan’s 25-year journey at Brooks has prepared him well for the CEO role. In addition to his broad-ranging functional expertise, Dan consistently leads with a customer-first mindset and people-centric operating mode, which have always been a success formula for Brooks.”
Brooks’ success under Weber was validated when Warren Buffett made the company a standalone subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway in 2012. If you want to read Weber’s full story, we recommend the book “Running with Purpose - How Brooks outpaced Goliath competitors to lead the pack” (2022, published by HarperCollins Leadership), which is available in bookstores and online.
Sheridan has big shoes to fill but is neither new to Brooks nor to leadership positions, having already demonstrated responsibilities and a cross-functional track record in multiple disciplines. He joined Brooks in 1998, was named COO in 2019 and was promoted to President and COO in 2022. In recent years, Sheridan drove the evolution of Brooks’ strategy by scaling the business model, leading the company’s supply chain and operations, and accelerating the brand’s digital transformation to skillfully navigate headwinds and execute Brooks’ multichannel strategy.
Berkshire Hathaway Vice Chairman Greg Abel offered his support for this next chapter of Brooks’ leadership.
More leadership changes
As a result of Sheridan’s appointment, Matt Dodge, VP, Managing Director of Brooks International, will become President and COO effective Aug. 1, 2024. Dodge will return to the brand’s global headquarters in Seattle after spending the last five years growing Brooks’ business and team in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and Asia Pacific and Latin America (APLA) regions. He joined Brooks in 2013 as Associate General Counsel and has served as VP General Counsel, VP of HR and Managing Director of Brooks International in his decade-long career at Brooks. His deliberate approach to developing integrated, customer-centric plans across disciplines, teams and geographies will serve Brooks well as he leads Brooks’ global growth. A new head for Brooks’ EMEA business, based in Amsterdam, will be announced in the coming months, the company said.
In recent months, Brooks’ organization has been strengthened by several other executive appointments to support global growth. Carson Caprara, who has been with the brand since 2005, was promoted to SVP of Footwear in May 2023 to lead all footwear design, development, product management and merchandising. Christophe Mahaut was promoted to SVP, Supply Chain Operations, also in May 2023, to lead global operations and strengthen Brooks’ end-to-end systems from factory to customer. In early 2024, Brooks appointed Gabriel Rodriguez as the new VP of Apparel and Accessories to lead all design, development, product management and merchandising for Brooks’ global apparel business, while Katie Carlson, who joined Brooks’ HR team in 2012, was promoted to SVP, Chief Human Resources Officer to drive the brand’s investment in its people and workplace culture.
