Lululemon Athletica has added a seasoned marketing executive to its board as the athletic apparel company confronts tensions with its founder and seeks to reinvigorate its consumer positioning, people familiar with the matter said.
Esi Eggleston Bracey - who served as chief growth and marketing officer at Unilever until earlier this year and has held senior roles at Procter & Gamble - will join Lululemon's board immediately, the sources said. At Unilever she led a broad transformation of marketing across a portfolio of more than 400 brands. Her experience also includes work at Coty, where she played a role in repositioning the CoverGirl brand.
Eggleston Bracey has been a director at Williams-Sonoma since 2021 and is a member of that company's audit and finance committee. According to the sources, she will stand for election at Lululemon's annual shareholder meeting on June 25.
The appointment coincides with other recent changes at the company. In March, Lululemon added former Levi Strauss & Co CEO Chip Bergh as a director, and the company said it recently named a new chief executive officer. Heidi O'Neill is slated to take the chief executive role in September, after her non-compete agreement with Nike expires.
At the same time, director Shane Grant - who is chief operating officer, Americas at Colgate-Palmolive - will not stand for re-election, the sources said. The decision to add Eggleston Bracey marks Lululemon's second new director in as many months, reflecting an active period of board refreshment.
The move comes against the backdrop of an ongoing dispute with founder Chip Wilson. Wilson, who started Lululemon in 1998 and left the board in 2015, has criticized the company's loss of "cool" and is seeking to elect three directors of his choosing. Company documents reviewed by sources indicate there have been discussions between Lululemon and Wilson's camp, but no settlement has been reached.
A representative for Lululemon declined to comment.
Board and management officials appear to be taking steps intended to bolster the brand that helped popularize the term athleisure - a label associated with the widespread use of the company's yoga pants for exercise, remote work and everyday wear during the COVID period. Lululemon went public in 2007 and its shares reached a high of $511 in late 2023.
Yet the stock has since retreated. It closed at $146.94 on Monday after a roughly 45% decline over the past year, leaving the company with a market value near $17 billion. The company faces heightened competition in the United States from newer rivals such as Alo Yoga and Vuori.
Despite the share-price pressure, some investors have pointed to encouraging signs, including strong international sales and product innovation such as stretchier pant offerings. Those indicators, they say, suggest improvement is beginning to take hold.
Wilson currently owns about 4.3% of the company, and his proxy campaign looms over the company's near-term governance outlook. The ongoing discussions between the two sides, and the lack of a settlement, leave uncertainty about the outcome of the upcoming shareholder vote and future board composition.
Context and implications
Adding Eggleston Bracey brings additional marketing and brand strategy experience to a board that has recently moved to refresh its membership and leadership. The timing of the appointment - alongside the arrival of a new CEO later this year and the earlier addition of another director - underscores the company's focus on brand and management transitions as it seeks to respond to competitive and shareholder pressures.