Fanatics Hires Nike Executive As CFO
Fanatics has named Michener Chandlee, currently Corporate Audit and Chief Risk Officer at Nike, as CFO effective Sept. 23, according to CNBC. He succeeds Lauren Cooks Levitan, who is leaving Fanatics to become CFO at Faire, a curated wholesale marketplace.
Chandlee has been with Nike since 2001, where he has also held roles including CFO of the Golf Division, VP and CFO of the North America business and VP and CFO of the global marketplace. He also has held positions at NACCO Materials Handling Group and General Motors.
He joins Fanatics as the sports apparel retailer seeks to reach more than $2.5 billion in annual sales, up from $2.2 billion in 2018. The company has been expanding its reach by partnering with other retailers, including opening a dedicated storefront on Walmart’s e-Commerce site, launching an exclusive online partnership with Kohl’s and expanding a store-within-a-store concept at JCPenney. The retailer also has taken a minority stake in FanzzLids Holdings, which owns Lids Sports Group.
All those deals were overseen by Cooks Levitan, who also helped Fanatics secure financing rounds that included equity stakes from the NFL and MLB between 2015 and 2019. At Faire, she will help the company continue growing to meet the needs of the 45,000+ local retailers it connects with both emerging and established brands. Faire has raised more than $100 million in venture capital and recently opened a third office in Salt Lake City.