Wolverine World Wide, Inc. is moving international responsibility for individual brands to its brand organizations as part of the the company’s strategic decision to bring its global commercial operations closer to its Merrell and Saucony brands by: (a) having regional brand leaders report directly to their respective global brand leaders; and (b) consolidating responsibility for the company’s third-party distributor and licensee businesses.
The move will result in the elimination of the International Group president role, which has been held by Isabel Soriano since June 2021. Soriano joined Wolverine Worldwide in 2018 as vice president and managing director of EMEA, responsible for leading all company brands in the region, including Merrell, Saucony, Sperry, Cat Footwear, Hush Puppies, and Keds.
With her promotion to president of International, Soriano came to oversee all international regions for WWW, including EMEA, Latin America, Asia-Pacific, and Canada.
Based on an SEC filing last week, the company and Soriano have agreed that her employment would end on March 3, 2026 (the “Termination Date”), due to the elimination of her position.
Soriano’s duties are being distributed throughout the organization as part of the company’s strategic decision to bring its global commercial operations closer to its Merrell and Saucony brands by: (a) having regional brand leaders report directly to their respective global brand leaders, and (b) consolidating responsibility for the Company’s third-party distributor and licensee businesses.
The company said in its filing that it entered into a settlement agreement with Soriano on March 3, 2025, providing for (i) releases of Soriano’s claims against the company as of the Termination Date, (ii) a cash payment to Soriano from the company in an amount equal to one year of her base salary, to be paid following the Termination Date, (iii) Soriano’s agreement to comply with covenants restricting her ability to compete with the company and to solicit and hire the company’s employees for seven months and one year, respectively, following the Termination Date, (iv) a repatriation payment from the company to Soriano in the amount of £300,000, to be paid following the Termination Date, (v) continued vesting of the portion of the unvested equity awards granted to Soriano for eight months after the Termination Date, and (vi) the company’s ability, in its discretion, to require that Soriano take leave for any period prior to the Termination Date, during which period she will continue to receive her base salary and benefits and remain eligible to receive bonus payments and vesting of equity awards.
The company further stated that the this description of the terms of the Settlement Agreement is not complete and is qualified in its entirety by reference to the complete text of the Settlement Agreement.
Image courtesy Wolverine World Wide, Inc.
