Adidas names Mark King as president of North America

Sportswear giant Adidas has promoted Mark King, current CEO of TaylorMade-Adidas

Golf to president of Adidas Group North America, succeeding Patrik Nilsson, who has left the company for “personal reasons”.

In his new role, King will be in charge of all Adidas and Reebok operations in the North American market and will report directly to Roland Auschel, member of the executive board of Adidas AG, responsible for global sales.

“Mark King’s appointment underlines our clear commitment to the North American marketplace,” said Herbert Hainer, CEO of the Adidas Group. "Mark has a proven track record of success and leadership excellence.”

Auschel, added: “Mark King draws on rich and successful experience with our Group and has a clear understanding of our strategic plans for this important region. Under his leadership, we will elevate the Adidas and Reebok business to the next level and secure an even stronger market position for our Group in North America.”

King has been with Adidas since 2003 and during his tenure as CEO he has doubled the golfing arms sales from 637 million euros in 2003 to 1.285 billion euros in 2013.

Ben Sharpe, currently executive vice president of Adidas Golf and Ashworth, will become the new CEO of TaylorMade–Adidas Golf, reporting into Adidas Group CEO Herbert Hainer.