A board is the governing committee at the top of a publicly traded company that makes overall management decisions, according to Fordham Fashion Law Institute founder Susan Scafidi. Scafidi describes it as being similar to a management club. Even if they may not make daily decisions, these people have power over who is hired and approved of deals. Bjorn Gulden Adidas' board has chosen Bjorn Gulden, chief executive officer of crosstown rival Puma, as its next CEO. Gulden will succeed Kasper Rorsted who announced in August he plans to leave by 2023 - in his absence, CFO Harm Ohlmeyer will serve as interim leader until then. Gulden will bring experience from his time at accessories-focused Puma to Adidas, which specializes in shoes and other clothing. At 57 years old, this Norwegian has long been active in the industry - working as both a professional soccer and handball player prior to entering management roles such as CEO of Danish jewelry brand Pandora, MD of shoe retailer Deichmann and Chairman of Danish food retailer Salling Group. He is well-versed in sports marketing, having served on both football and handball club boards in his home country of Argentina. This experience equips him to lead Adidas through this period of uncertainty for its key market of China as well as costs related to separating from rapper Kanye West's Yeezy brand. RBC Capital Markets analyst Piral Dadhania estimated that Adidas could lose as much as $2 billion annually in revenues following their separation with Ye, who represented around 10% of sales for Adidas. After announcing this move to divide up and cut guidance for future months, Adidas stock fell nearly 10% this year; disappointing earnings also occurred with revenue rising only 0.1% compared with last year while net profit increased due to cost cutting measures and investments into digitalization, according to their statement. Martin Shankland Adidas' executive committee will now include Gulden as CEO and global brands; Arthur Hoeld as global sales; Harm Ohlmeyer as CFO; Amanda Rajkumar as global human resources, people and culture manager and Martin Shankland for global operations. In addition, Dave Thomas will take up the post of managing director for emerging markets. Shankland was previously leading Adidas' Emerging Markets division and has worked at Adidas for 25 years - initially as an Australian native before moving on to greater responsibility at local, regional and global levels. Under his tenure the company's sales in Asia and India have skyrocketed significantly. In its most recent earnings report, Adidas posted a net loss of 482 million euros. Annual revenues had increased 1% year over year to 22.5 billion euros but performance was severely limited by sales declines in Greater China. Furthermore, Adidas warned that current-year operating profit could be severely compromised by unsold Yeezy inventory and expects currency-neutral sales decline by high single digits by 2023. Sportswear company Puma recently announced plans to close down two cutting-edge footwear factories located in Ansbach, Germany and Atlanta, Georgia and transfer production to Asian suppliers, in order to take advantage of lower labor costs and cut shipping emissions. Brian Grevy informed the supervisory board of his plans to leave after 33 years at the firm, including 10 as an executive board member. His position will be assumed by Chairman of the Executive Board and CEO Bjorn Gulden who will assume direct product and marketing responsibilities. Arthur Hold Adidas is a longtime sponsor of cricketer Sachin Tendulkar. They provided him with shoes and created the Adidas MasterBlaster Elite bat specifically tailored for him. In 2008 they expanded their sponsorship to cover the Indian Premier League along with signing other English batting stars including Ian Bell, Ravindra Jadeja and Sachin. Arthur Hold is one of Dutch Van der Linde's closest allies in the Van der Linde Gang and one of his close confidantes. A loyal soldier, Arthur can often be found playing dominoes with Abigail while at camp and learning piano from her. Unfortunately though, his relationship with John may have become tenuous after leaving for an entire year and getting Abigail Roberts pregnant by John's leaving Abigail Roberts pregnant by him. Micah Bell tried to convince Arthur that John had turned against the gang but Arthur simply responded that they hadn't known each other long enough for it to occur despite all that had transpired since 1899. This clearly shows his regard for John both as a friend and family member. As Arthur is dying from tuberculosis, he asks Dutch to look after his family while promising that he will. Soon thereafter he peacefully passes away, either from Micah's gunshot wounds or from tuberculosis itself. The ending to this scene is heartwarming and touching for audiences while at the same time reminding them that Adidas values its employees; continuing its efforts towards providing workers with every opportunity for success and supporting workers to ensure a good experience at work. Harm Ohlmeyer Harm Ohlmeyer has been promoted to the board at Adidas following Roland Auschel's resignation due to an investigation into its relationship with rapper Ye, also known as Kanye West. Adidas decided to end their partnership in October when Ye made antisemitic statements online; Auschel's departure is estimated to cost them 250 million euros in sales revenue. AKA is changing its management team as part of this transformation: Bjorn Gulden will become CEO, while Arthur Hoeld will oversee global sales. CFO Ohlmeyer will remain with AKA until 2028 while Brian Grevy will serve on its Executive Board to represent global brands. Grevy joined Adidas in 1998 and quickly assumed several leadership roles across Europe and Asia. His responsibilities at Adidas included strategic business development, corporate finance and investment management for the company as well as managing their e-commerce strategy and growth. Grevy holds both an MBA in Economics as well as being certified public accountant. Adidas announced in a statement that they will continue their commitment to producing products that satisfy consumer needs while maintaining strong financial results. Their focus will remain on sports and innovation while expanding into new digital-era markets and striving to enhance their supply chain operations. Investors are filing suit against Adidas alleging it ignored rapper Ye, an Adidas partner until last year after his string of antisemitic tweets caused them to end the relationship. Their lawsuit alleges Adidas and former CEO Kasper Rorsted failed to disclose risks associated with being involved with Ye; class-action suit was filed today in U.S. District Court of Oregon. Amanda Rajkumar After employees at Adidas initiated an employee-led movement last summer to push for greater diversity at the company, CEO Kasper Rorsted unveiled a plan for its HR department. Germany-based sportswear giant Adidas appointed Amanda Rajkumar as head of its HR division starting next year; she will take over for Karen Parkin who left in June; prior to this role at JPMorgan and BNP Paribas she held senior roles including being head of human resources for Americas respectively. Adidas takes great pride in the importance of their employees. In a press release issued by Rorsted, Rajkumar's appointment highlights their dedication. She brings decades of experience in human resources as well as deep knowledge in people care and inclusion to their executive board and company, Rorsted stated. Rajkumar made headlines after joining German blue-chip BSH Group as its new Chief Diversity Officer in January by unveiling her plans to implement an unprecedented project that requires all employees voluntarily sharing data about their ethnicity, nationality, gender identity and sexual orientation voluntarily. Her plan would mark an unprecedented move by an international corporation and is sure to raise eyebrows in Germany where many still remember Nazi persecution of citizens based on ethnicity or political affiliation. Adidas expects that this project will help increase their diversity numbers, which currently fall below industry norms. Furthermore, this initiative will aid line managers "make more informed decisions and identify what is working or not," says Rajkumar. Additionally, this data may enable them to see whether they are hiring from similar demographics multiple times over.