Adidas’ top HR exec resigns over statements about race

July 1, 2020

Karen Parkin, who oversaw human resources at Adidas and who was the only woman on its executive board since 2017, has resigned from the company after acknowledging that she had lost the trust of employees following her comments regarding race issues within the company. Aaron Sure, a product manager at Reebok, a subsidiary of Adidas, described a company meeting in Boston in which Ms. Parkin was asked about racism within the company. “This is noise we only hear in North America,” Mr. Ture recalled Ms. Parkin’s response. “I do not believe there is an issue, so I do not feel the need to answer this question.”

Recent News