*The founder and CEO of Ariel Investments LLC – John W. Rogers has been appointed to the board of directors at Nike.
The CEO and President of Nike Inc. said that John is going to bring a deep expertise of finance with him and they are very pleased to welcome him to the team. He also went on to say that the newly appointed director has great insights as he has been a business leader for quite some time and these will be invaluable for the next phase of accelerated growth at Nike.
This appointment of one of the most influential African Americans in the business world came in the wake of the controversy that revolved around Colin Kaepernick. This billion dollar company for athletic apparel had marked the 30 year mark for its ‘Just do It’ campaign. This was celebrated with an ad which had Kaepernick alongside a caption that read, “Believe in something; Even if it means sacrificing everything.”
Why was this controversial? Well, the ex-NFL quarterback had started kneeling during every national anthem as a protest against racial injustice and police brutality. This triggered the #TakeAKnee which also let to firestorms of critics (which included Donald J. Trump) and even some protests.
That said, you can understand why Nike’s choice of picture and words had been so controversial. Not a lot of time has passed since that episode and now Nike has hired Rogers as a director which is a great statement even if Nike didn’t mean to make one. Rogers had founded his investment company with a family of mutual funds which were managed solely by the African American.
Other than having his own investment firm, Rogers had even served some time on the boards of some prominent S&P 500 companies. These included Exelon Corp and Mcdonalds Corp. Other than this, Rogers had even come up with the initiative that was known as the Black Corporate Director’s Conference. This conference brought together many scores of business leaders that were African Americans so as to collectively focus on their roles in corporate governance.
Judging from these decisions, we along with so many more, believe that Nike’s management is determined from deep rooted values. Values which help break stereotypes and cross societal issues, they also promote changes in the industry by leading with their example. We respect their decisions and pray other companies follow Nike’s example.
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