The CEO position at Nike’s surf brand Hurley has been in seemingly constant rotation since the the footwear giant bought the Costa Mesa, California based company in February of 2002.
So news on Monday, June 4, 2012 that company founder Bob Hurley (pictured right with his grandson Ashton at the 2012 Nike Lowers Pro) was moving back into the “interim CEO” roll was really not all that surprising seeing that Hurley CEO Michael Egeck announced that he was moving to lead middle-aged wannabe outdoorsman clothier Eddie Bauer.
For those keeping track, Hurley has now had four CEOs in the past 16 months. Here’s how it has all gone down: Bob Hurley was CEO until October 2007 when he was replaced by Nike insider Roger Wyett. Wyett then handed the position off to former Dockers President Jim Calhoun in April of 2011 only to move the man over to Converse a month later. Wyett served as interim CEO until September 2011 when former VF Corp. veteran Michael Egeck was hired for the CEO position. Egeck lasted approximately eight months before exiting. Now, Hurley is back to where it started with CEOs.
Three things come to mind. One, from our perspective there is no one better equipped to guide the direction of Hurley than Bob. Two, it must be hell trying to be CEO of the Hurley brand in Bob’s shadow, especially for the kind of business jocks who love being the boss. And finally three, how long will Nike continue to juggle CEO’s before they just drop the whole thing? Guess we’ll all know soon enough.
[Link: Portland Business Journal and BusinessWeek]
