Mark Parker: Nike CEO

Mark Parker was born on October 21, 1955, in Poughkeepsie, New York. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Political Science graduating from Penn State University in 1977. Mark ran on the Penn State track and cross country teams. Mark clearly belongs to the world of running and sports. He is married to Kathy Mills Parker and has three grown children. Kathy happens to be a former world record holder in the 5,000 meters. 

His interest with designing shoes lay in his desire to make a better running shoe. This was all part of his goal to trying to have a faster marathon time. He made sketches and created soles and glued them on his Asics to see if they worked. 

After graduating from college he joined Nike in 1979 and was one of the company’s first footwear designers in their R&D facility in Exeter, New Hampshire working in a startup-like environment. Mark became Division Vice President in charge of development in 1987, Corporate Vice President in 1989, General Manager in 1993, and Vice President of Global Footwear in 1998. In March 2001 he became co-president of the Nike brand and would eventually become Vice President of Nike. In 2006 he became the third CEO of Nike.  

Mark led the way for Nike Air and numerous industry-breakthroughs in product design. He is described as having a mild and subtle way of changing an opinion. Mark also deals directly with superstar athletes like Kobe Bryant and Serena Williams. Being a shoe designer at heart he is able to relate to them in the designs of shoes that carry their name. As an athlete himself Mark knows how they feel and what are their needs. He takes to heart a phrase that is important to Nike “Serve the athlete.”

Annual revenue has double at Nike from $15 billion to $30.6 since Mark took over as CEO in 2006. Share price has risen sixfold from $21 in January 2006 to $125 in early October 2015. 

Davide Grasso: Developing of Innovative Nike Campaigns Such as “Write the Future”

With more than two decades of corporate leadership experience, Davide Grasso works from Nike, Inc.’s Portland, Oregon, headquarters as Vice President Global Brand Marketing. He has engaged with the footwear and apparel firm in a number of key marketing capacities, and has guided the firm’s style and branding direction for more than a decade.

Prior to taking his current position in 2010, Mr. Grasso served as the company’s Vice President of Global Football Marketing and spearheaded development of the innovative, “Write the Future” marketing campaign. Nearly three minutes in length, the film captures the kinetic energy of professional soccer and features the achievements and failures of stars such as Wayne Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Fabio Cannavaro, Thiago Silva, and Landon Donovan. It also shows the real time effect that these exploits have on fans around the world. In addition to top-flight soccer stars, the extended commercial featured cameos by NBA legend Kobe Bryant, tennis great Roger Federer, and Homer Simpson. In its debut week, the film set a record for the highest number of viral video advertisement views ever, and it ultimately earned the Cannes Grand Prix award.

Earning his Bachelor’s degree in Business & Economics at the University of Turin, Davide Grasso began his career as Account Executive with the consumer goods investment enterprise Armando Testa, SpA, He subsequently received his MBA from Bocconi University in Milan and joined Nike Europe as Product Line Manager. As Director of Marketing with Nike Italy for three years, Mr. Grasso achieved business growth of 200 percent and led the brand’s emergence as a national market leader. In particular, Nike’s footwear market share in Italy doubled from 18 percent to 36 percent. Davide Grasso has since fulfilled diverse corporate roles with Nike, including Apparel Marketing Director Europe, and Asia Pacific Region Vice President of Brand & Category Management.

It Wasn’t Like This Before

A long time ago, there were two dominant sports shoe companies, Adidas and Puma. These companies were both German and both producing high quality products. Then a guy by the name of Phil Knight decided to start his own shoe company, everything changed.

Being a varsity runner himself at the University of Oregon, Knight knew quite a lot about shoes. His entrepreneurial bent did not begin in college. After a stint in the Army, he went to graduate school at Stanford University.  It was there where he got his desire to start his own business and naturally it had to deal with shoes.

A trip to Japan exposed him to a brand of shoes that were just as good in quality as the German shoes but made at a much lower cost. He was able to make a deal with the shoe company (Onitsuka the makers of Tiger shoes) and began selling these shoes in 1964 on the side while maintaining his day job.

In 1971 he finally decided to quit his job and strike out on his own.  Choosing the name Nike actually came from a friend, and someone was paid to design the now so famous “swoosh” logo.  In part due to the jogging boom Nike made great sales. Phil Knight’s company was also good in advertising. In one event it advertised that 4 of the top 7 finishers were wearing Nike shoes; not mentioning that the top 3 finishers were wearing Adidas.

Phil Knight’s formula of star athletes endorsing Nike was a resounding success. Michael Jordan in the 80’s boosted the company image and just as important helped increase sales. Michael Jordon also earned millions from Nike. So many athletes now have multi-million dollar endorsement contracts with Nike.

Nike was unheard of in golf until it signed up the then upcoming Tiger Woods.  Nike is now everywhere in the sports world, from the world’s most popular sports football to America football.  Maria Sharapova, Rafael Nadal, Lebron James, just a few of the sports celebrities with multi-million endorsement contracts with Nike.

Nike is not just into sport shoes, but sports equipment and apparel, and has other fashion brands not directly related to sports.  While Adidas and Puma are still there, Nike is on top of the hill. Out of nowhere Phil Knight forever changed the sports apparel market and has even influenced the sports industry itself.