Nike CEO Elliott Hill finally got his badge to work. The executive, who started at Nike in 1988 and retired in 2020, was announced as the company’s next CEO in September. He didn’t officially start as chief executive officer until today, but he’s been back on campus at Nike’s sprawling world headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon, in the past couple weeks.
While gearing up for his return, Hill spent time at the gym, working out every morning in the on-campus facilities at Nike headquarters. He didn’t yet have the credentials to do so—most of Nike’s buildings require a badge to enter. The next chapter of Hill’s employment at Nike hadn’t technically started at that point, so the soon-to-be CEO had to sign a waiver every time just to get in.
“So that I wouldn’t sue Nike,” he joked on Monday, speaking at a company all-hands meeting held at the Tiger Woods building at Nike headquarters and broadcast internally for employees. “I promise you, I’m not going to.”
Hill, 61, now has his badge, and the top job at Nike. He is replacing John Donahoe, the Nike outsider who took over as CEO in January 2020.
John Donahoe served as Nike CEO from January 2020 to October 2024. Via Getty
The Donahoe era at Nike started off well enough, and the stock soared in the first part of the decade as Nike pumped out profitable retro shoes like the Dunk and the Air Jordan 1. Then came the stumbles—the job cuts that disrupted the company, the over-reliance on direct-to-consumer business, the lack of exciting new designs. Nike’s stock fell off a cliff. With pressure from investors and employees mounting, Nike announced last month that Donahoe would be retiring.
At the all-hands event on Hill’s first day back, which Complex listened to, Nike’s new CEO addressed the challenge ahead of him.
“There’s no hiding the fact that we’re in a tough spot right now,” Hill said in the meeting. “And for those of you that are new to Nike, we’ve been here before.”
The mood was not somber, though. The CEO, wearing an early pair of next year’s Pegasus Premium, walked onstage to a standing ovation from his audience in Beaverton. His entrance was soundtracked by cheers from the crowd and Mark Morrison’s undeniable jam “Return of the Mack.” Hill would not take credit for the music choice.
“First of all,” he said, “I’m trying to figure out who picked that walk-up song out.”
Hill spoke by himself for the first five minutes before bringing out Deepa Ramprasad, a rising star at Nike who works as a senior director of lifestyle footwear. Ramprasad conducted a question-and-answer session with Hill touching on his personal life, his career, and his plans for Nike.
Hill prefers gelato over ice cream. He enjoys Serie A soccer (Hill and his wife Gina, whom he met at Nike, are Italian citizens). He is a road warrior who’s flown almost four million miles. Hill will live, he said, in downtown Portland, a quick drive from Nike HQ. His favorite restaurant in Portland is Ox.
Hill’s Rise From Intern to CEO
Hill at the Horned Frogs Mean Business panel in 2022. Via TCU
How did Hill get his start at Nike? He’s told the story before—there was a podcast from 2023 on YouTube where Hill recapped his 32 years with the brand; the video was made private after his return was announced. He began as an intern in Memphis on June 1, 1988, securing a job by badgering Nike employee Tim Joyce for six months.
“He gave me two days to get there,” Hill recounted on Monday. “Drove back to my little apartment, threw everything I owned in the car, and drove there.”
Hill rose through the sales organization at Nike in his long tenure, and was the company’s president of consumer and marketplace when he left in 2020.
How did he arrive back at Nike in 2024? Hill didn’t share any details about the process, but explained that he has an “irrational love” for the brand and believes Nike has the ability to change people’s lives, not just sell them shoes. So when Nike leadership reached out about making him CEO, Hill didn’t hesitate
“It was pretty simple,” he said. “When the phone calls started and the conversations started, I never said no. I said yes immediately.”
The Future at Nike
Inside the LeBron James Innovation Center at Nike headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon. Via Nike
Now that he’s arrived, what are Hill’s first priorities? He repeated familiar Nike maxims at the meeting: he wants employees to focus on serving athletes and consumers, he wants Nike to celebrate the passion and emotion of sport. In the short term, he wants strong results for his first fiscal year back.
“Super tactically, we have seven and a half months until the end of fiscal year ‘25,” Hill said. “We have some work to do.”
He mentioned cleaning up Nike’s franchises—an apparent reference to its strategy of making less of the popular retro sneakers that it’s relied on so heavily in the 2020s—and converting inventory of them into cash.
Hill said the future of Nike relies on a strong, healthy technology platform. Nike’s already started conversations, he said, about how artificial intelligence can be part of that.
“We won’t reach our goals without a strong tech team that’s delivering results on behalf of our consumer and our business,” Hill said, “full stop.”
In the meeting, Hill did not dwell on Nike’s recent missteps. Donahoe’s name was never mentioned. Hill declined to talk about why Nike lost its way, insisting instead that he wanted to focus on the future.
“We’re gonna write the next great chapter for Nike,” Hill said. “And that starts today—no looking backwards, no finger-pointing. We all look forward. We create the future for Nike, we create the Nike magic.”
Watching From the Sidelines
Nike signed Germany’s national soccer team away from Adidas in 2024. Via Getty
Ramprasad asked Hill at the all-hands meeting which move that Nike made surprised him the most in the time that he was away from the company. Hill answered praising Nike’s coup in signing Germany’s national soccer team away from Adidas, Nike’s German rival that has sponsored Germany’s kits for over 70 years.
“We had a GM in Europe who, it was always his dream, Bert Hoyt’s dream, to sign that deal,” Hill said. “We took a couple runs at it and never pulled it off. And so, kudos to this team for pulling that off.”
He dwelled on the signing for a moment toward the end of the meeting, telling his audience that moves like that, industry shifts that only Nike could pull off, are of critical importance.
‘It Sure Feels Good to Be Home’
Nike’s world headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon. Via Getty
While Hill was confident in the meeting, he was also self-effacing at times. He stressed that the energy in the room wasn’t about him, but about everyone who makes up Nike. He acknowledged that he was humbled and even a bit overwhelmed by the reception. Hill did not anticipate his rise from Nike intern to CEO.
“I never dreamed I’d be sitting in this seat,” Hill said. “I didn’t have the—maybe the confidence, the vision, the audacity to think I could do the job I’m doing today.”
He’s working on decorating his office, but the space is sparse at the moment. Hill sold off much of his old Nike memorabilia in a charity auction after he retired, so he doesn’t have access to a personal archive of trinkets from his decades with the company.
For now, he has on display in his office a family photo; a poster for the Austin Moontowers, the baseball team he founded post-retirement that he also plays on; and a vintage purple stadium chair from his alma mater, TCU. Hill plans to put up a favorite quote from the late Nike muse Steve Prefontaine.
Even though he’s still getting settled in, Hill is very much in his element.
“It sure feels good to be home,” he said onstage in Beaverton.
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