Adidas AG said Amanda Rajkumar will step down from the executive board after deciding not to extend her term, leaving the company facing a fresh diversity challenge.
(Bloomberg) — Adidas AG said Amanda Rajkumar will step down from the executive board after deciding not to extend her term, leaving the company facing a fresh diversity challenge.
Rajkumar joined Adidas as head of global human resources, people and culture at the beginning of 2021, and is the only woman on the board. She’s also the latest senior woman to leave the German sneaker maker and follows others including global marketing head Vicky Free out the door.
When Rajkumar moved to Adidas she joined a senior leadership team that consisted only of white males. At the time Adidas was facing scrutiny after her predecessor Karen Parkin resigned following criticism from Black employees who said the company ignored their concerns.
Since then, Adidas became engulfed in a scandal when its highly successful partnership with Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, imploded after the rapper unleashed a string of hateful and antisemetic remarks.
Bjorn Gulden was hired from rival Puma as chief executive to try to repair the damage and turn around the sports brand. He has been shaking up the management team since he joined in January.
Read More: Adidas Races to Fix Its Billion-Dollar, Yeezy-Shaped Hole
Adidas said that Michelle Robertson, a senior vice president for workplaces and global functions at Adidas, will assume responsibility for Rajkumar’s role on an interim basis. She will report directly to Gulden.
There are six women on Adidas’s 16-strong supervisory board.
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