Lululemon store sign in London, March 2, 2026.
Peter Dazeley | Getty Images
Lululemon On Wednesday, Heidi O’Neill was named the athletics company’s new CEO, effective September 8.
The news comes after the company suffered more than a year of disappointing performance and found itself embroiled in a dramatic proxy battle, with founder Chip Wilson criticizing the company.
Shares of the company fell more than 5% in extended trading.
O’Neill has held several positions at Nike, contributing to the growth of the sportswear giant. She has also held positions at Levi Strauss, Hyatt Hotels and Spotify.
“Heidi is an inspirational leader and proven, consumer-focused brand strategist, with a rare ability to both imagine a new future for a brand and create the structure and processes needed to bring that vision to life,” Marti Morfitt, executive chair of the Lululemon board, said in a statement. “We selected Heidi because of her breadth of experience, her demonstrated success in implementing large-scale, groundbreaking ideas and initiatives, and her ability to be a skilled agent of change and growth.
O’Neill said in a statement that she plans to focus on strengthening the company’s core foundations and unlocking growth in global markets. O’Neill will start with a base salary of $1.4 million, according to an 8-K filing.
“I am honored by this opportunity and energized by what the team is already building,” she said in her statement. “I look forward to joining the company and helping define and realize the organization’s next chapter of success.”
Lululemon is struggling with weak sales and increased competition, as well as rising costs from tariffs. In its latest earnings report, the retailer said it expects tariffs to cost it $380 million this year.
Wilson, Lululemon’s largest shareholder, has also put increased public pressure on the company to make changes to its board of directors. He did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the nomination.
In a statement, GlobalData managing director Neil Saunders said O’Neill had “a very strong background in sportswear and sportswear” and “had an in-depth understanding of how the industry works”.
“Some investors, mostly activists, will view O’Neill as a safe, traditional choice,” Saunders said. “This argument is partly valid because many cultural changes are needed at Lululemon in order to improve performance. However, in our view, O’Neill is his own person who will come with a change agenda.”
At Nike, O’Neill played a key role in the doomed direct-to-consumer strategy, where the brand moved away from wholesale partners in favor of its own website and stores under former CEO John Donahoe. When current CEO Elliott Hill took over as CEO of Nike, he made it a priority to return to the direct sales project.
Before leaving Nike, O’Neill also oversaw product and innovation at a time when the brand was criticized for falling behind on new products and focusing too much on the same legacy lifestyle franchises, Dunks, Air Force Ones and Air Jordans. While franchises briefly led to increased sales, fueling Nike’s growth into a $50 billion-plus brand, they eventually became ubiquitous in the marketplace and considered uncool by some consumers.
Today, Hill is still working to unwind this strategy and clear these franchises’ inventory from the market, which has affected Nike’s margins and led to a decline in online sales.