Diversity & Inclusion

Three executives were named to new roles at leading appliance and consumer electronics manufacturer Haier America.

Haier America, part of the $29 billion Haier Group, named Gina Copeland SVP of air quality, Sanjay Gupta VP of product platform development for major appliances and Paul Riley as VP of sales and marketing for major appliances.

New York -- Lululemon Athletica Inc.’s founder, Dennis "Chip" Wilson, reached an agreement to sell half his stake in the women's yoga-wear company to Advent International of Boston for $845 million. The deal will give Advent, which owned shares of Lululemon from 2005 to 2009 and was one of the company's early venture capital backers, 20.1 million shares, or 13.9% of the company (Lululemon went public in 2009). It also gives Advent two seats on the board, including Advent's managing partner David Mussafer, who will become co-chairman of the retailer.

New York -- Target Corp. has added its name to a legal defense of gay marriage. The move comes four years after the company was criticized for supporting a strident opponent of same-sex unions.

Target signed a court brief backing marriage equality in a pending court case and publicly declared its support of gay marriage, joining the likes of Starbucks, Apple and Intel.

Walgreens has exercised its option to complete the second step of its strategic transaction with Alliance Boots ahead of the original option period, which was between February and August 2015. The transaction, subject to shareholder and various regulatory approvals, would fully combine the two companies to form the first global pharmacy-led, health and well-being enterprise.
 

Under Armour’s newest board member is former ESPN president George Bondenheimer.
 
"We are excited to have George Bodenheimer joining our board," Under Armour CEO and chairman Kevin Plank said "His pioneering vision and his experience building and leading a global sports media brand will bring important perspective and expertise to our company as we continue to expand the UA brand globally."
 

Baltimore -- Under Armour announced that George W. Bodenheimer, former president of sports network and entertainment company ESPN has joined the company's board of directors.  

Bodenheimer is an ESPN and cable industry pioneer, having served as the company's longest-tenured President from 1998 to 2012, during which time he led an unprecedented period of global growth. He most recently served as executive chairman of ESPN, before retiring from the company in May 2014.

Build-A-Bear Workshop CEO Sharon John will be joining Jack in the Box’s board of directors, effective September 18.

John has more than 25 years of retail marketing, branding and executive management experience in the public and private sectors. Prior to joining Build-A-Bear Workshop in 2013, she served three years as president of the Stride Rite Children’s Group, a footwear division of Wolverine Worldwide with more than 300 stores in the U.S. and abroad.

Seattle -- REI named Alex Thompson as the company's new VP of communications and public affairs.  

Thompson most recently served as executive VP of corporate and public affairs in the New York office of Edelman, a global communications and marketing firm.

At REI, Thompson will direct a broad portfolio that includes public relations, reputation management, corporate communications, philanthropy, community affairs and government relations. In addition, he will be actively involved with the co-op's board of directors.