Lululemon founder raises doubts on new CEO pick; pushes for board seats
Chip Wilson, the founder of Lululemon and one of its biggest shareholders and critics, has fired another salvo in his push to remake the company’s board with three new directors.
In a letter on Wednesday to shareholders, Wilson criticized Lululemon’s new CEO pick as evidence of “broken governance” as he once again urged shareholders to vote for his three board nominees. The letter comes a little more than a week after the activewear retailer tapped 27-year Nike veteran Heidi O’Neill as its next CEO, starting in September.
Lululemon responded to Wilson's latest letter with a statement in which it said the company has an experienced board that is "well-equipped to provide effective guidance on the company’s direction, Lululemon’s leadership and the right composition of directors through our ongoing, disciplined refreshment practice."
Lululemon had been searching for a new leader since Calvin McDonald stepped down in January amid a sales slowdown, product misses and increased competition in its home market. Wilson has repeatedly said that the company’s challenges are rooted in the board's failure to understand the brand.
Wilson criticized O’Neil’s appointment, stating the board lacks the skillset to hire a world-class brand and product leader. He noted that while he “genuinely” hopes that she is the right person for Lululemon, a near 30-year veteran of Nike Inc. “is not the symbol of transformative, creative-first leadership that can instill shareholder confidence in today's world.”
“Shareholders are right to question if she has the product skillset or history of value creation that is needed to revitalize Lululemon,” he wrote. (To read the full letter, click here.)
Wilson also noted that employees and shareholders will not have the chance to engage with O'Neill until she starts in September.
“It escapes logic how this board felt the business would be best served without a permanent CEO for nearly 300 days and why the next CEO should face months of public scrutiny before starting in the position,” he said. “It is an unfortunate fact that the proxy contest will call into question if the CEO search process should be re-examined with a refreshed board."
In December, Wilson nominated three independent director candidates for election to the company’s board at its 2026 annual shareholders meeting. In the letter, he once again urged shareholders to vote for his three independent, “highly-qualified “nominees to be elected to the board.
“All the roads of Lululemon's value destruction lead back to one place: the boardroom,” he wrote. “The board's challenges are rooted in a persistent misalignment of governance that perpetuates the cycle of poor leadership selection and talent flight, furthering strategic confusion.”
Wilson was critical of Lululemon’s partnership with the Disney Company and its international expansion push. The company plans to expand its global presence in 2026 with six new market entries through its new franchise partnership model agreements. It also plans to open eight stores in Mexico this year.
“Expanding the product into more countries and further brand destructive collaborations are at best merely attempts for short-term gains to mask underlying problems,” Wilson wrote.
In its statement, Lululemon said that while it has attempted in good faith to find an amicable resolution with Wilson as outlined in its preliminary proxy filing, he did not allow the board to meet his director nominees for months. He has insisted, the retailer said, that "all three of his nominees be appointed to the board while changing his list of other demands on multiple occasions, and has repeatedly attacked the company publicly during our attempts to achieve a constructive outcome."
"We will always take actions that we believe are in the best interests of all of the company’s shareholders," Lululemon said.
