Hanesbrands Inc. has appointed William J. Nictakis to the newly created position of president, chief commercial officer. Nictakis, 47, will lead Hanesbrands’ domestic and international commercial businesses and support functions to drive sales growth and profitability. He will report to Hanesbrands Chief Executive Officer Richard A. Noll.


“Bill Nictakis has a tremendous track record of driving growth in big organizations with nationally recognized brands,” Noll said. “We have successfully consolidated the Hanesbrands organization from several independent operating units to one company focused on customers and consumers. This is the perfect time for Bill to join our team to lead our commercial operations under this new chief commercial officer position.


“Bill has tremendous energy, great consumer products vision and an unrelenting drive. He will fit in well with our powerful brands and the passion and experience of our organization.”


Nictakis has more than 25 years of experience at leading consumer product companies, most recently as president of Sara Lee Corporation’s U.S. fresh bakery unit. Before joining Sara Lee, Nictakis was vice president of sales for Frito-Lay, Inc., leading the company’s 20,000-member national sales organization.


Reporting to Nictakis will be sales and customer management, brand marketing, product design and development, and the strategic commercial business units for intimate apparel, male underwear, activewear, casualwear, socks and international, which include customer marketing, merchandising and forecasting and pricing.


Hanesbrands also announced today that it has named Howard Upchurch as executive vice president and general manager of domestic innerwear and John Marsh as senior vice president and general manager of domestic casualwear. Upchurch, who joined Hanesbrands in 1987, previously led the company’s domestic intimate apparel business. Marsh, who joined the company in 1995, has had several assignments before leading the casualwear business.