Mark King, president of Adidas North America Inc., will step down from his role on July 1, the company announced Tuesday morning.
King will be succeeded by General Manager of Adidas North America Zion Armstrong.
King, 59, has led the North America division of the German sneaker company since June 2014. An Adidas spokesperson said King is stepping down from his post on good terms with the company. He will stay on as an adviser to Armstrong following the transition.
Armstrong has been with the company since 1998, when he joined Adidas New Zealand as a product manager for footwear. He then held executive titles at both the Adidas headquarters in Germany and in the Asia-Pacific region at Adidas South Korea. He moved to Portland in 2015, and has since been second-in-command to King as general manager of North America.
King was the PBJ's Executive of the Year in 2016 and was honored as one of the year's top executives in 2018.
Armstrong will report directly to Adidas Executive Board member Roland Auschel, who is responsible for global sales.
"This is a well-prepared, seamless transition," Auschel said in a release. "We are very excited to promote Zion Armstrong to one of the most important roles in our company. He has been instrumental to our success over the last three years, co-leading adidas North America together with Mark King. We are convinced that Zion's leadership will enable us to continue our successful journey in North America."
King, known for his ability to drive turnarounds, is leaving a well-performing company to Armstrong — Adidas North America had $4.2 billion in sales in fiscal 2017, a 27 percent increase from the previous year. King has been instrumental to Adidas' improvement in the North American market in recent years.
King started his career at golf company TaylorMade in the early 1980s. After the company was bought by Adidas, King worked as the CEO of TaylorMade-Adidas Golf from 2003 to 2014, during which time TaylorMade-Adidas Golf became the world's most profitable golf company.
After King became president of North America, Adidas experienced rapidly growing sales and increased market share, even as rivals Nike and Under Armour struggled. In 2017, Adidas beat out the Jordan Brand to become the No. 2 footwear brand by market share in the U.S., behind Nike.
King has also fueled Adidas' expansion in Portland, where it has doubled its workforce over the past two years and is in the midst of a major campus build-out in North Portland.
"On behalf of the entire company, I would like to congratulate Mark King on an outstanding career at adidas and TaylorMade," Auschel stated in the release. "Mark leaves our company on excellent terms and as a close friend. We would like to thank him for his exceptional contributions to our success over the last 35 years. At the same time, we look forward to continuing to leverage Mark's network and experience in his advisory role."
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