COO Departure at lululemon Sparks Executive Shake Up
lululemon athletica announced that Stuart Haselden, chief operating officer and EVP, international, will leave the company in the New Year, in order to assume a leadership position outside of the apparel industry. Haselden joined lululemon in 2015 as chief financial officer and was one of three leaders who guided the company during its CEO search last year.
“We’re grateful for Stuart’s leadership and commitment to lululemon, and we appreciate the role he played to build our infrastructure and support our international growth,” said Calvin McDonald, CEO, lululemon. “He’s helped us develop senior leaders across the organization who are ready and able to take on additional responsibilities. We wish Stuart well as he begins his next chapter.”
It has been widely reported that Haselden is leaving to take on the CEO role at digitally native luggage and travel lifestyle brand Away Luggage. The former CEO of Away, Steph Korey was forced to step down from her position following allegations of a cancerous corporate culture at the brand.
The shake-up at Away comes after an investigation by The Verge uncovered a workplace where Korey was known for berating employees via instant messaging platform Slack, the CEO tweeted last week that she was “making things right” at the company. “I’m not proud of my behavior in those moments, and I’m sincerely sorry for what I said and how I said it,” Korey tweeted. “It was wrong, plain and simple.”
Lululemon announced that chief technology officer, Julie Averill and chief supply chain officer, Ted Dagnese will join the company’s senior leadership team, reporting directly to McDonald.
In support of its long-term growth strategy to quadruple its international business by 2023, the company has begun an external search for the position of EVP, international. While the search is underway, the company’s established leaders in APAC and EMEA will report to McDonald and Celeste Burgoyne, EVP of Americas and global guest innovation, respectively.