JD Sports appoints first global managing director

JD Sports has appointed Michael Armstrong to the newly created role of global managing director.

A JD veteran, Armstrong joined the retailer in 1995 as a sales assistant in the company’s Glasgow store, before working his way up the ranks, serving in a number of senior roles before being appointed to his most recent position as group buying director in 2014.

In his new role, Armstrong will “help further drive the group’s growth and meet its ambition to become the leading global sports-fashion powerhouse”, the company said in a release. He will report to group CEO Régis Schultz.

Schultz said in a statement: “Michael has been pivotal in the group’s success to date, and brings unrivalled knowledge and understanding of our consumer to our management team.

“With a keen eye for strategic opportunities and ever-changing customer trends in sports athleisure, he is respected by colleagues and brand partners as one of the leading market authorities on what works and why, making him the right person to take the JD brand through its next chapter of growth.”

The appointment comes at a significant time of change for JD Sports, which in February set out a new five-year growth strategy which includes “significant” international expansion of the JD brand, notably in North America and Europe.

In December, JD Sports announced it would sell 15 of its premium fashion brands to Frasers Group. JD said at the time the move would allow it “to focus more fully on the opportunities across the rest of the group, in particular the international and digital expansion of the group's core premium sports fashion fascias”.