Nike CEO says 30-year path from intern to top boss was “destiny”

Fortune

Nike CEO Elliott Hill started as an intern in 1988 before climbing the corporate ladder to CEO after more than 30 years.  In an exclusive interview with Fortune, Hill shared his vision for the iconic sportswear brand’s future.

Transcript

00:00I took a sports marketing class, and I wrote a paper around this company called Nike.

00:05Just by chance, it was a company that I loved, and the paper was around their marketing mix.

00:09Nike back then was one of the first companies that used an athlete to help build their brand,

00:14and then how they'd moved into print media, more vertical, and then more broad-based print media.

00:19I fell in love with the company, and I thought, you know, that's the type of company I want to

00:23work for. I can combine sport with business, and I was fortunate there was a guy named Tim

00:28Joyce who came to speak at our university, and after he finished speaking, I went up to him and

00:33said, I want to work for Nike, and he asked me to meet him the next day. I put my little suit and

00:37tie on, and I ran down to meet with him, and I bothered him for about six months, and he finally

00:41hired me, and I started at Nike June 1 of 88 as an intern. So, it was a process to get there,

00:47but it was, I think, a little bit of destiny.

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