5 More Nike Executives Are Out Amid Inquiry Into Harassment Allegations

A sweeping investigation into workplace behavior at Nike has resulted in the departures of five more top-level executives, raising to 11 the number of senior managers to leave the company as it continues to overhaul its upper ranks amid widespread allegations of harassment and discrimination against female employees.

Together, the departing executives oversee some of the most important business categories and high-profile departments at the world’s largest sports footwear and apparel company.

Nike confirmed Tuesday morning that four managers were leaving: Steve Lesnard, the head of running in North America; Helen Kim, who oversaw Eastern North America; Simon Pestridge, a head of marketing for the company’s performance categories; and Tommy Kain, Nike’s director of sports marketing.

Later in the day, a Nike spokeswoman also confirmed the departure of Ibrahem Hasan, a senior creative director who former employees said had been involved with the company’s marketing campaigns with British female singer FKA Twigs.

None of the five departing executives responded immediately to requests for comment.

In a companywide address last week, Mark Parker, Nike’s chief executive, apologized to employees and said that departures related to the company’s broad investigation into workplace behavior would be completed by this week.

Six executives had already left the company or said they would leave in connection with the inquiry. That group included Trevor Edwards, president of the Nike brand and a potential successor to Parker; and Jayme Martin, who oversaw many of Nike’s global businesses. Nike’s head of diversity and inclusion and a head of footwear were among the other managers to part ways with the company.

Those departures came after a group of female Nike employees began an informal survey that sought input on sexual harassment and discrimination against women. The survey was presented to Parker on March 5. Ten days later, the executive shake-up began with the announcement that Edwards was resigning.

Inside Nike, the latest departures may provide more reassurance to employees seeking signs that Parker is trying to address the workplace problems that have plagued the company in recent years. In his address to employees, Parker said that Nike was taking steps to become a more collaborative workplace where all voices were heard, and would be more open about efforts to improve the diversity of its work force and its progress toward meeting equal pay goals.

But the exodus of so many top executives could also heighten scrutiny of Parker, 62, who worked closely with many of those who are leaving. So far, Nike’s board of directors has not made any comments on the management overhaul or whether it still has confidence in Parker’s leadership.

For Wall Street, the turmoil could be worrisome and prompt questions about whether Nike will have the leaders it needs in place to execute its aggressive business strategy.

Parker, who has been chief executive since 2006, has set a goal of increasing Nike’s revenue from around $36 billion to $50 billion by 2022. Achieving that will involve transforming the company’s business by shifting away, in part, from its traditional sports-athlete focus to the women’s and so-called athleisure markets. It also plans to sell more of its products in its own retail stores and through its website.

“Nike has a deep bench and has a history of moving people around the different businesses,” said Sam Poser, an analyst with Susquehanna Financial Group. “But we haven’t before seen the exits of people like this who have been there for a very, very long time, and the question is, are the people who are replacing them ready to take on these new jobs?”

Nike shares were down 1.21 percent, to $68.50, in trading on Tuesday afternoon.

The latest moves come a little more than a week after The New York Times, using interviews with more than 50 current and former Nike employees, reported on women’s complaints of being marginalized, harassed and thwarted in their careers at the company, and about indignities that included humiliating visits to strip clubs and unwanted kisses. Many of those interviewed said when they took their grievances to human resources, they did not seem to be taken seriously.

Since then, current employees have said, Nike’s Beaverton, Oregon, campus has been awash in rumors and speculation that more managerial changes were in the works. On Tuesday, those rumors turned to fact.