New Lululemon CEO’s sweeping C-suite shifts headlines October retail exec changes

A month into her tenure as CEO of Lululemon, Heidi O’Neill shook up the company’s C-suite in October.

Nike vet O’Neill added two new C-suite roles this month: Athleta CEO Maggie Gauger, also O’Neill’s former Nike colleague, was named president and chief product officer, and Walmart Canada’s Chief Growth Officer Joseph Godsey was tapped as COO. Meanwhile, Lululemon’s Chief Brand and Product Activation Officer Nikki Neuburger and Chief Supply Chain Officer Ted Dagnese, execs at the brand for seven and 10 years, respectively, will both exit the company on November 6.

The moves, O’Neill said in a statement, put “product, design, and innovation at the center of how we operate.”

The company said it’s still searching for chief brand, communications, and technology officers (in August, Chief Strategy Officer Rachel Acheson and Chief AI and Technology Officer Ranju Das both exited).

Facing sinking sales—leggings sales dropped 20% in Q2, the company reported last month—O’Neill’s leadership shake-up is a clear effort to turn things around, Jo-Ellen Pozner, associate professor of management and entrepreneurship at the Leavey School of Business at Santa Clara University, told Retail Brew.

“It’s difficult for a new CEO to make a lot of change quickly when you’ve got embedded C-suite executives in the rest of those roles,” she said, adding, “It’s not just going to be a change of strategy; it’s also going to be a change in leadership style, a change in market segmentation, and really also a change in organizational culture.”

But such extensive executive changes means an adjustment period is needed, she noted.

“Turnaround is unlikely to come super quickly, but a commitment to change is likely to come quickly, and that is really reassuring to investors,” she said.

Other notable retail C-suite changes in October:

• Lacoste’s CEO Eric Vallat was reportedly ousted just ahead of its Paris Fashion Week runway show after taking the helm in June 2025. Thierry Guibert, Lacoste’s 10-year CEO whom Vallat replaced last year, has taken over the role once more.
• Following Marc Jacobs’s acquisition by G-III Apparel Group and WHP Global in September, Marc Jacobs CEO Eric Marechalle left his role after nine years. The company announced Emily George, a former longtime Marc Jacobs exec, as global president.
• Shipt hired Raj Kapoor, its former COO and current SVP of marketplace at Target, as its next CEO, assuming the role from Kamau Witherspoon.
• Keurig Dr Pepper chose Russ Torres, president and COO of Kleenex maker Kimberley-Clark, to serve as CEO of its coffee unit, home to Peet’s and Keurig, which the company is set to spin off in early 2027.
• Chocolate giant Lindt & Sprüngli CEO Adalbert Lechner exited his role amid lackluster growth at the company, with former CEO Dieter Weisskopf taking over.