The supervisory board of Adidas AG has appointed Martin Shankland to the executive board as board member responsible for global operations effective March 4, 2019. He succeeds Gil Steyaert, who has left the executive board to pursue new career opportunities externally.

Shankland (Australian, 47) joined Adidas in 1997. Since 2017, he has led Adidas emerging markets as managing director, setting up the organization for sustainable success across the Middle East, Turkey, India and Africa.

Prior to that, Shankland was managing director Adidas Russia/CIS for 17 years. Under his leadership, Adidas Russia/CIS developed an extensive own-retail network for both the Adidas and Reebok brands. He started at Adidas as finance director for Adidas Russia/CIS.

“With Martin, we are pleased to appoint an excellent internal candidate to the executive board,” said Igor Landau, chairman of the supervisory board of Adidas AG. “Martin draws on long adidas experience and brings outstanding leadership qualities to his new role on our executive board. Together with the entire executive board team, he will continue to execute our long-term ‘Creating the New’ strategy successfully.”

At the same time, Landau thanked Steyaert for his many years of successful service with the company. Steyaert (French, 56), has worked at adidas since 1999 in local and regional roles with increasing responsibility.