Mary Dillon’s time as Foot Locker president and CEO has begun with encouraging financial numbers and a handful of maneuvers in executive management.
The company announced on Wednesday that CFO Andrew Page will be stepping down from his role after he gives the earnings report for the fourth quarter. The company also revealed that Frank Bracken has been promoted from chief operating officer to chief commercial officer, while Elliott Rogers takes over as COO after working more than two decades with Target, Caesars Entertainment, Citigroup, as well as Ulta Beauty, where Dillon was CEO previously.
“Frank has done an outstanding job overseeing growth initiatives across Foot Locker’s banners, operating divisions, and geographies, and I am pleased he will continue leading these efforts. In addition, Elliott’s track record of execution in supply chain, logistics, e-commerce fulfillment, and IT make him an ideal addition to Foot Locker’s team,” Dillon said in a statement. “I am thrilled to partner with both Frank and Elliott—and the rest of our executive team—as we continue advancing Foot Locker’s strategic priorities and creating value for our shareholders, customers, and other stakeholders.”
Foot Locker also promoted Rosalind Reeves to chief human resources officer, replacing Elizabeth Norberg. Robert Higginbotham has been promoted to senior vice president of investor relations and financial planning and analysis.
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Those personnel changes came 11 days after an earnings report that showed Q3 sales up 3.3% on a constant currency basis and sales up 0.8% year-over-year, results that Wall Street liked as Foot Locker’s stock shot up as much as 18 percent that before settling at an 8.7 percent increase in trading following the news.
“Foot Locker has a tremendous amount of brand awareness and latent brand equity that I believe is not yet fully tasked,” Dillon told the board in her first earnings report after succeeding Richard “Dick” Johnson in the role. “We are grounded in the history and culture of street basketball, youth culture, sneakerhead coolness and Foot Locker is squarely at the intersection of sports, fashion and trend, making our brand equity more relevant than ever.”
Top selling brands for Foot Locker in Q3 were New Balance, up 70 percent, Ugg up 50 percent, Crocs and Converse both over 25 percent and controlled brand apparel was up 50 percent, “driven by strong fleece and outerwear performance through our CSG and Locker brands,” Dillon said. “Given strong momentum coming out of the quarter, we are increasing our outlook for the rest of the year.”
For the holiday push, Dillon announced a first-ever “truly integrated global campaign” with a Foot Locker Holiday House Party and a breakthrough into the metaverse with a Kids Foot Locker House of Play experience which will allow players to buy virtual sneakers.
Bolstered by the return of football, basketball and back-to-school in Q3, Foot Locker reported mid-single digit gains in Kids Foot Locker, while Champs Sports fell by low double-digits.
Foot Locker announced the full wind down of Eastbay by year’s end will mean the closing of the Wausau, Wisconsin distribution center, as well as the addition of a new distribution center in Reno, Nev., which, the company says can cut shipping times to western states by 50 percent. That, Bracken said, would give Foot Locker 2-day shipping availability to 95 percent of the United States.