Under Armour has promoted Massimo Baratto to the interesting new position of executive vice president and chief consumer officer, effective Nov. 1. He has been serving since May 2018 as managing director of the company’s EMEA region, based in Amsterdam.
In conjunction with this announcement, UA said that he will be succeeded as senior vice president and general manager for EMEA by a 7-year veteran of the company, Kara Trent, who has been running the merchandising and planning functions for the EMEA region since July 2019.
She joined UA in May 2015 as senior director of wholesale merchandising and visual merchandising after working for five years as a buyer for Reebok and almost eight years at Puma North America, serving in various functions.
UA also took the opportunity to report that Alessandro de Pestel, who has served as chief marketing officer since 2018, is planning to leave the company next February to pursue other opportunities.
In his new position at UA, the company says, Baratto will oversee all aspects of its consumer strategy, tasked with delivering a seamless and consistent brand experience with responsibility for global marketing, e-commerce and retail. “Today’s announcement underscores our commitment to delivering an ecosystem capable of deepening our connection with focused performers, inspiring them wherever and whenever they choose to engage our brand,” commented UA’s Swedish-born president and CEO, Patrik Frisk. “Massimo’s global leadership skills, digital expertise, and significant experience building brands through understanding consumer behavior will be a great enabler in strengthening our ability to innovate and enhance our position as one of the world’s preeminent athletic performance brands.”
Under Baratto’s management, UA’s business in EMEA frequently outperformed. The Italian executive had previously helped UA make big strides forward in the Italian market, where he pushed the American sports brand’s presence and positioning as CEO of Italy’s Oberalp Group after it took over its distribution in the country in 2016. He was instrumental in the establishment of UA Brand Houses at key locations throughout the country.
Baratto spent nearly 18 years at Oberalp, helping to quadruple its sales by raising the turnover of its own brands – Salewa, Dynafit, Pomoca and Wild Country – as well as those for which it had the distribution in Italy, such as also Fischer, Rip Curl, Speedo and Spyder.
