Youth Sports Tech Upstart Upper Hand Acquired by Private Equity Firm
Upper Hand’s platform streamlines scheduling, membership, payments, and facility management for sports facilities, academies and trainers. As part of the acquisition, Brad Wills and Brad Greene, co-founders of H3 Partners, will serve as Upper Hand’s chief executive officer and chief operating officer, respectively.
SGB 2025 Year in Review: Executive Shuffle — Fourth Quarter
The third quarter of 2025 saw Reebok name a new CEO for Reebok Europe to run its new HQ in London and Nike, Inc. removing layers of management to flatten the organization, with more direct reporting to CEO Elliott Hill. Lululemon started to shuffle seats in the leadership ranks as CEO Calvin MacDonald announced plans to depart the company at the end of January. That move also led to a proxy fight over Board seats and CEO candidates, waged by founder Chip Wilson and an activist investor firm.
Bain Capital to Acquire South Korean Activewear Brand
Bain Capital has agreed to purchase the South Korean activewear company Echo Marketing, the parent company of athleisure brand Andar, for roughly $344 million.
SGB 2025 Year in Review: Active Lifestyle Stocks Take It On the Chin Again
The wide majority of stocks trading in the active lifestyle space in 2025 sharply underperformed broader market gains for the fourth straight year. The lackluster performance was in large part due to disruptions from tariffs, as well as stalled turnaround efforts in several major stocks, including Nike, VF Corp. and Lululemon.
Life Time Opens Fifth Austin Fitness Center
Life Time announced the December 31 opening of Life Time South Lamar, marking its 34th club in Texas and its fifth in the Austin market.
Nike’s Shares Pop After CEO Elliott Hill Buys $1M Worth of Stock
Shares of Nike rose $2.52, or 4.1 percent, to $63.71 Wednesday on news that Nike Inc. CEO Elliott Hill had purchased $1 million of Nike’s stock on the open market for the first time. The disclosure came a week after board member and Apple CEO Tim Cook made a similar purchase.
EXEC: Interactive Strength Cries Foul as Sportstech Seeks to Suspend Acquisition Talks
Interactive Strength CEO Trent Ward pushed back on Sportstech’s claims that negotiations between the two companies were suspended effective November 27, 2025, indicating that his company provided Sportstech with critical working capital that materially improved its performance — a loan that came due on December 30, 2025.
SGB 2025 Year in Review: Executive Shuffle — Third Quarter
The proliferation of new chief officer titles continued unabated in the period, with a new slate of TLAs for newly created positions, including: Chief Brand Officer (CBO), Chief Digital Officer (CDO), Chief Growth Officer (CGO), Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO), Chief Legal Officer (CLO), Chief Revenue Officer (CRO), Chief Supply Chain Officer (CSCO), and Chief Wholesale Officer (CWO), joining the more traditional CEO, CFO, COO, CTO, CIO, and CMO titles.
Report: Small Business Bullish on Growth in 2026
According to the latest edition of the Comerica Small Business Pulse Index, 80 percent of small business owners surveyed feel confident in the future success of their businesses, and nearly 8 in 10 (79 percent) foresee sales growth in 2026.
Valley Preferred Cycling Center Names Executive Director
The Velodrome Fund, Inc., operator of the Valley Preferred Cycling Center (VPCC) in Trexlertown, PA, appointed Gary Thornton as its new executive director, effective January 5, 2026.
SGB 2025 Year in Review: Executive Shuffle — Second Quarter
The second quarter of 2025 continued to see a strong trend in new appointments, hirings and promotions at the executive levels in the active outdoor industry as 2024 Q4 and 2025 Q1 M&A activity bred a need for new blood or more experience in the C-Suite.
SGB 2025 Year-in-Review: The Trump Tariff Impact
The term “Tariff Uncertainty” pretty much summed up conversations in boardrooms around the country in 2025 as companies tried to plan their businesses around constantly shifting scenarios as the Trump Administration’s tariff efforts became a continuous moving target in the marketplace.
Under Armour Appoints Head of Digital Experience
Under Armour appointed Jillian Gorman as head of digital experience for the Americas. Formerly, Gorman was head of Customer Experience Strategy at Samsung Electronics.
Fanatics Appoints First GM for Australia and New Zealand
Fanatics appointed Sarah Flynn as the company’s first general manager for Australia and New Zealand. She brings over two decades of retail, wholesale and commercial leadership experience across the region to the role.
EXEC: Lululemon Responds to Founder’s Proxy Fight Moves
In response to Lululemon Athletica’s founder, Chip Wilson, announcing that he has submitted a notice to nominate three director candidates, Lululemon defended the experience of its board, its CEO succession process, and the retailer’s performance since Wilson stepped down from the board in 2015. Lululemon also reported it will evaluate Wilson’s board nominees “in due course in accordance with the Board’s governance process.”
