Sports Authority promoted David Campisi to chief executive officer and president, effective immediately. Campisi, who replaces long-time CEO Doug Morton, has served as Sports Authority’s president with responsibilities
for merchandising and marketing since 2005.
In this role, Campisi will oversee all day-to-day operations and business growth initiatives including store expansion, marketing, and merchandising.
“We are extremely proud to name David as Sports Authority’s new CEO,” said Jonathan Sokoloff, Managing Partner, Leonard Green & Partners, L.P. “During the years he has served as President we have seen his positive impact on Sports Authority’s business, brand and bottom line. David is a very seasoned executive and brings to the table more than 30 years of experience in the retail industry across multiple Fortune 100 companies.”
“Most recently, David has proven to be an instrumental leader by delivering strong fourth quarter results,” said Doug Morton, Chairman of the Board at Sports Authority. “He has been successful in building a world-class executive team that has developed an inspiring plan to deliver growth in 2010 and beyond.”
Campisi has served as Sports Authority’s President with responsibilities for merchandising and marketing since 2005. He joined Sports Authority as President of Merchandising in 2004. Prior to joining Sports Authority, Campisi served as EVP of Merchandising at Kohl’s and SVP of Merchandising at Fred Meyer.
“I am truly honored to serve this great company as CEO. I look forward to leading the exceptional team at Sports Authority and I believe that we have a very exciting future,” said Campisi. “This company is truly the Authority in Sporting Goods, and we are dedicated to continuously improving our consumer experience to drive results.”
In October 2009, Sports Authority announced that Morton will be retiring from his position as chief executive officer. Morton, who had been with TSA or the Gart Sports predecessor company for 23 years and served as CEO for more than a decade, is remaining as chairman of the company.
At the time, Herbert Mines was retained to conduct an internal and external executive search to find a replacement. Until a replacement is found, TSA was being operated by an interim executive operating committee consisting of Campisi, chief administrative officer/CFO Tom Hendrickson and COO Greg Waters.
