There are few people who know the inner workings of Nike from the bottom up better than Elliot Hill.
After beginning his career at Nike as an intern, Hill, 60, quickly began to rise through the ranks. He is now preparing to take the coveted CEO position.
Last week, Nike announced it was parting ways with CEO John Donahoe in a bid to turn things around at the sneaker giant.
During Donahoe’s tenure, the company lost billions of dollars in market value.
In an attempt to return Nike to its former glory, Hill was reappointed as its new CEO.
Elliot Hill, 60, began his career at Nike as an intern before rising through the company’s ranks to reach the coveted CEO position.
Before taking on the role, he told the Wall Street Journal that the shoe company is “a fundamental part” of who he is.
Hill began his historic career at Nike in 1988. At the time, he was a graduate student at Ohio University, where he was studying sports management.
For a class on sports marketing, Hill wrote about one of his favorite brands: Nike.
When he learned that Tim Joyce, one of the company’s executives, would be visiting the campus, he arranged a meeting with him.
During his conversation with Joyce, Hill pleaded his case for being given a job. He got no response, so he harassed the executive for the next few months.
As graduation day approached, Hill attempted to contact Joyce one last time with a desperate speech.
The graduate student told the executive that he would stop calling him if there was no chance of being hired.
Last week, Nike announced it was parting ways with CEO John Donahoe in a bid to turn things around at the sneaker giant.
If this were not the case, Hill said he would continue calling Joyce until she finally said no.
The executive said yes on a Friday, and Hill loaded everything he had into his car and drove from Ohio to Tennessee, where he would start work on Monday.
But when he walked into the company’s Midwest regional sales office on his first day, he discovered he hadn’t exactly landed a job.
Hill’s new boss told him it would be a six-month internship. ‘An internship?’ he thought to himself.
He accepted the unglamorous position, put his head down and got to work.
During her internship, Hill packed boxes in a warehouse and answered phones whenever the office needed customer service help.
In an attempt to restore the company to its former glory, Nike recently named Hill as its new CEO.
“I pretty much did everything they asked me to do, and then some,” he told Wall Street Journal.
During her time as an intern, Hill was still paying off her student loans.
“I never told my mom it was an internship,” he told the Fortitude FW Podcast. “I told him they hired me.”
Soon enough, he was hired and parlayed his internship into a position as a clothing sales representative for the company.
For two years, Hill drove his Chrysler minivan around the country, visiting mom-and-pop stores in Texas and Oklahoma, where he sold Lycra.
Hill began his historic career at Nike in 1988. At the time, he was a graduate student at Ohio University, where he was studying sports management.
He was near the bottom of the company’s staff wagon and remained in the dark for some time.
It took Phil Knight, co-founder of Nike, a decade to figure out who he was.
But despite this inauspicious start, Hill managed to be promoted every two years for several decades. When Hill retired in 2020, he was president of Nike’s consumer division.
And recently, Knight led the effort to make Hill the company’s new CEO.
During her internship, Hill packed boxes in a warehouse and answered phones whenever the office needed customer service help.
With this, Nike hopes to reactivate its business. Under former CEO Donahoe, the company made a series of mistakes.
like him WSJ As Nike points out, it made the mistake of favoring e-commerce over retail stores. The company has also suffered from widespread competition, lackluster sales and low morale.
Before taking the helm at Nike, Donahoe had spent most of his career at Bain, where he served as CEO. He later left Bain to take senior jobs at eBay and ServiceNow.
About five years ago, he moved from software to footwear, taking over Nike, where he had previously been a board member.
But despite this inauspicious start, Hill managed to be promoted every two years for several decades. When Hill retired in 2020, he was president of Nike’s consumer division.
The company now hopes to leverage Hill’s experience, institutional knowledge and passion, which is so intense he cries when he talks about how much the brand means to him.
With Hill, Nike aims to usher in an important transition period. Ursula Burns, who started as an intern at Xerox before rising to CEO, said WSJ that it is essential to have someone like Hill in those moments.
“If you’re going through a transition in the company,” he said, “it’s valuable to have someone who understands the heart and soul of the place.”
