Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE), the global sports apparel giant, has seen its president, Trevor Edwards, and Jayme Martin, a vice-president and general manager of global categories, depart amid claims of improper behaviour, according to multiple US press reports.
Edwards, the second-most important executive at the company after chief executive Mark Parker, will retire in the summer. A veteran whose name had surfaced as a possible successor to Parker, Edwards joined in 1992 as a regional marketing manager and previously held senior positions in marketing in the US and the Europe, Middle East and Africa region.
Martin, who was ousted immediately, was leading a number of areas such as training, basketball and running. He joined Nike in 1997, according to CNBC.
Both Martin and Edwards are alleged to have "protected male subordinates who engaged in behavior that was demeaning to female colleagues, according to another person," according to the Wall Street Journal.
Parker will stay on as chairman and chief executive of Nike past 2020 in the wake of the news that Edwards is leaving, according to the Journal.