The John Donahoe era at Nike will be over in a few short weeks. Nike announced on Thursday that the beleaguered CEO, who steered the global sportswear brand through the Covid-19 pandemic and brought its stock to an all time high, only to later watch it tumble back down to Earth in the single-worst trading day in Nike’s history as a public company, will step down on Oct. 13.
His departure is overdue if you ask most people at Nike’s world headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon, where the general sentiment is that Donahoe mismanaged the brand, ruthlessly cut jobs, and oversaw a stale chapter in Nike design that favored reliable retros of old products rather than genuine innovation.
Donahoe became Nike’s CEO in January 2020 and will remain with the company as an advisor through the end of January 2025. His appointment was notable in part because he did not come from Nike; the company had only once before given the job to someone who had not already worked there. (Bill Perez, the other man with that distinction, didn’t last much more than a year.) When he became the CEO of Nike, Donahoe was, for the most part, a sneaker industry outsider. His replacement is anything but.
Next up is Elliott Hill, a Texas native with a charming George Clooney mug, a lingering Southern drawl, and decades of experience at Nike. Hill, 60, started at Nike in 1988 and retired in 2020, serving most recently as president of consumer and marketplace. He will return next month to become president and CEO of Nike, on Oct. 14
In a note sent to Nike employees on Thursday night, which was viewed by Complex, the incoming CEO acknowledged the brand’s struggles and invited employees to email him directly.
“I can assure you, my heart never left Nike and while I was away,” Hill wrote, “I was always cheering you on.”
Attached to the email is a five-minute video of Hill speaking straight to camera about his history with Nike. Hill summarizes his long resume in the clip, but it’s not the most revealing document.
He told a more thorough version of his life story in a 2023 episode of the Fortitude Fw podcast, beginning with his childhood in Austin. In the episode, Hill recounts being raised by a single mother who worked as a school teacher, fighting to get in at Nike, and navigating the company as it became the dominant force in sportswear at the end of the 20th century. Here are some takeaways on Nike’s next CEO, pulled from the podcast and his brief address to employees this week.
Hill Started As a Nike Intern in 1988
Hill went to college at Texas Christian University, where he studied kinesiology, and at one point had aspirations to go to med school. (It’s clear in the podcast episode that Hill cherishes his connection to his alma mater, where he is on the board of trustees; TCU comes up frequently.) He landed a job as a graduate assistant trainer with the Dallas Cowboys the day after he graduated from TCU in May 1986. His time with the Cowboys led Hill to pursue a master’s degree in sports administration at Ohio University. It was there that he found his first opportunity with Nike.
When a Nike employee named Tim Joyce came to speak at the university, Hill, who’d recently written a paper on the brand, decided he had to shoot his shot.
“As soon as the lecture was over, I went up to him and said, ‘Hey, I want to work for Nike,’” Hill said in his video addressing Nike employees this week.
Hill and Joyce met the next day. Hill says he hounded Joyce for six months after that until he landed a position. Joyce finally summoned him to Memphis, where Hill started at Nike on June 1, 1988. Hill, who’d made the drive from Ohio, assumed he had a job lined up. But Joyce was offering him an internship.
“I never told my mom that it was actually an internship,” Hill said on the Fortitude Fw podcast. “I just told her I got hired.”
Hill started out in the Midwest regional sales office doing, he explained on the podcast, anything anyone needed him to. Six months after that, he had his own sales territory, with 168 accounts between Oklahoma and Texas. He would hit the road in a Chrysler minivan, presenting Nike apparel to mom-and-pop shops.
“You want to try to sell neon and lycra to people in Oklahoma and Texas,” Hill joked, “I had to work hard.”
Hill Was There for ‘Just Do It’
Nike rolled out its ‘Just Do It’ campaign in 1988. Via Getty
Hill was still new at Nike when the company struck gold with “Just Do It,” the Wieden+Kennedy campaign that gave Nike an indelible slogan and a global catchphrase. He says he saw the first “Just Do It” ads before they went public, at a sales meeting in 1988, and considers the moment a defining moment in his career.
In a theater packed with between four and five hundred Nike employees, the ads were an immediate success.
“The place went nuts,” Hill said, reliving the experience in his conversation with Fortitude Fw.
He Worked With Michael Jordan
Hill formed a close relationship with Michael Jordan. Via Getty
Hill ascended through sales positions at Nike during the ‘90s and eventually led all commercial and marketing operations for Nike and Jordan Brand by the time he left in 2020.
When Hill was Nike’s VP and general manager of its North America business from 2010 to 2013, he built a relationship with Michael Jordan, whose president at Jordan Brand reported to Hill. When Nike wanted Jordan to expand his namesake brand globally, Hill was part of the team that had to convince him.
“Michael was a little worried about taking the brand global and losing the focus on North America and his revenue,” Hill said on the podcast.
Hill ensured Jordan that he had to trust that he could grow the business. In Hill’s recounting, Jordan stopped him and leaned forward.
“Elliott, do you know what size shoe I wear?” he asked.
Hill knew Jordan was a size 13. Jordan grabbed a shoe and put it on the table desk to illustrate his point. He urged Hill to keep it for his desk as a totem to remind him what could go wrong.
“If our revenue goes back,” Jordan told Hill, “I’m gonna come and stuff that up your rear.”
What’s His Favorite Nike Sneaker?
Hill favors the Nike Epic React Flyknit in all black. Via Nike
Hill’s full biography from Nike includes information about his favorite shoes, broken down by category. It lists the Infinity Run 4, Pegasus Trail 5, Motiva, original Metcon, Epic React Flyknit 2, Killshot, Tailwind 79, Zoom Vomero 5, NikeCraft (the bio doesn’t specify which pair), Air Jordan 1 Low, and Converse Chuck Taylor Low as his favorites.
Hill was more discerning in his video address to Nike employees from this week, naming the Epic React Flyknit (presumably the 2), in all black, as his favorite shoe.
“I love it because it’s super versatile,” Hill said. “I can dress it up, I can dress it down. I can wear it on the street, but I can also go run in it. It is a shoe that goes everywhere with me in my bag when I travel.”
It’s a selection that would please Phil Knight, Nike’s co-founder and first CEO. Knight’s long had a penchant for all-black outfits, usually finished off by a pair of black-on-black running sneakers.
Hill Had a Crazy Sports Memorabilia Collection
A player exclusive Air Force 1 for TCU from Hill’s collection. Via Live Auctioneers
Hill put together a charity auction in 2022 where he purged loads of jerseys, autographed sports gear, and an ancient pair of TCU player exclusive Nike Air Force 1s.
“I had a collection, it was up in the attic,” Hill said. “We pulled it out of the attic and we were trying to figure out what to do with it. We had this idea of, why not have an auction and donate the money to charity?”
Hill said on the podcast that the auction raised $2.25 million for a scholarship in his mother’s name between the sales and donation matches. He described the auction as a way for him to “close the chapter” on Nike and turn the tangible goods from his time there into something positive.
The image of a product-obsessed leader amassing trinkets over the years calls to mind former Nike CEO Mark Parker (Donahoe’s predecessor), a man whose office at Nike’s headquarters housed a cornucopia of art, toys, and sneakers.
John Donahoe Insisted on a Going Away Party for Hill
Former Nike CEO Mark Parker (left) and outgoing CEO John Donahoe. Via Nike
Hill talks about his exit from Nike on the podcast, explaining that his departure was in the works for well over a year. His last day of his 32-year stint at Nike was June 1, 2020.
“It was already planned,” Hill said. “I told them in March of ‘19 so they could work through succession planning.”
Hill didn’t leave quite how he wanted to—Covid-19 disruptions messed that up. Instead of an in-person gathering, there was a Zoom call in his honor where coworkers paid Hill tribute. As he was on his way out, it was then-new CEO John Donahoe who worked to ensure Hill had a proper sendoff.
“I said no, and he kept coming back,” Hill said of Donahoe. “In the end, I ultimately said yes.”
At that point, late in 2022, Hill felt he’d been gone from Nike too long to justify a full-on party. Instead, there was a small dinner with Donahoe and members of the leadership team, with Phil Knight as a surprise guest.
In describing the Zoom call goodbye, Hill said he wished he’d spent more time listening to his peers and enjoying their farewells. As it turns out, the returning Nike veteran and soon-to-be CEO will have plenty more time to spend with them.
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