Accredited as a Self-Motivated Professional, Mark Parker has been the third Chief Executive Officer of Nike Inc. He took up the post of a CEO of the world famous athlete shoe designer company, named Nike, since 2006. A person who is known to have an uncanny eye for any good design, he too has a cutting edge sensibility which is again gained from this social network.
When someone is asked to explain about Mark Parker some of the words like cool, complex, humble and creative are the ones which we get to hear repeatedly. He is closely involved with the art community and some of his friends include Eric Clapton and his office too is designed with art work from various backgrounds.
Mark Parker is committed to keep Nike’s shoes sustainable to the realms of nature. He always wanted the signature brand of shoes associated with Nike, to remain environmentally conscious. After 10 years of research and hard work towards this particular initiative, Mr Parker along with his team launched their first project named ‘The Green Shoe’. The brand of shoes completely adheres to the principles of sustainability.
Early days and Education
Mr Parker was born on the 21st of October 1955, in Poughkeepsie, New York. He had completed his Bachelor’s degree in the field of Political Science. He had finished his graduation in the year 1977.
Career Spark
Mr. Parker joined Nike Inc. in the year 1979, hardly two years, after he had completed his graduation program from the Pennsylvania State University. So, not much info has been given on the set of careers he progressed in, prior to joining Nike Inc. He has had a long haul of a 31 year stint, of having worked with Nike alone.
His journey with Nike Inc.
Mr. Mark G Parker became the third Chief Executive Officer of Nike Inc. during the year 2006. He joined the firm as a shoe designer. Ever since he had joined Nike Inc., the shoe biggie, he was given primary responsibilities pertaining to product research, design and development. He thus served as the designer and development manager of Nike Inc. for the Exeter, New Hampshire branch. This was from 1979 to 1980.
Then, he went on to become the manager of advanced product design unit at Exeter in New Hampshire. This was between 1980 and ’81. Years ’81, ’82 and ’83 saw him performing the role of a Director of Design Concepts and Engineering.
Like-wise we can find him portraying several senior and managerial positions across different verticals of Nike Inc. Let us see how he had progressed from here on...
He became the manager of Running and Fitness footwear marketing from 1983 to ’85. He received yet another promotion round about, this time, when Nike Inc. saw him head the entire team at the Special Design project of the footwear biggie. This was between 1985 and 1987.
Mr. Parker finally became the Vice President of Nike Inc. He was heading as the Divisional VP catering to research, design and development of various forms of athlete and gym based shoes, the company kept bringing from time to time. He thus served as the Divisional VP of Nike Inc. from 1987- 1988.
He then went on to grab the profile titled ‘Corporate Vice President’ of Nike Inc. again on international parlance towards research, designing and development of authentic footwear. As we had seen in the earlier paragraphs, he served in one profile or the other for a maximum period of 1 or 2 years and eventually moved on, to the next vertical, however within the same company. But this corporate VP role was retained by Mr Parker for quite a long haul of 5 years, viz. 1988 to ’93.
He then became the Vice President of Consumer Product Marketing from 1993 to 1998. He performed two roles dual roles of Vice President as well as the General Manager of Global footwear domain of Nike Inc. This was during the tenure between 1998 and 2001. He then went on, to head operations as the President of ‘The Nike Brand’, a select group of footwear, specifically targeted towards the higher income cosmopolitan group. He grabbed the position during March 2001 and this went on until January 2006. Thus in the 27 year old stint with Nike Inc., Mr Parker has taken on several roles, rather a broad range of leadership roles from product design and development to marketing up until brand management. He was so much associated with Nike Inc. that he had become the brand ambassador of the footwear biggie. He used to organize road shows and sponsor running events by wearing the signature brand of shoes associated with Nike Inc.
Mr. Mark G Parker, merely by his hard work and persistent commitment towards the footwear biggie, went on to become the President and the Chief Executive Officer of Nike Inc. He earned the coveted post in January 2006. Then, there has absolutely been no looking back for the aspiring 59 year old master mind. Today, Mr. Parker is responsible for the growth and development of Nike Inc.’s global portfolio including the likes of Converse, Cole Haan, Exeter brands, Hurley International and Nike Bauer Hockey.
We have unravelled the long career stint of Mark G Parker with Nike Inc.
Annual salary of Mr Parker
While he was the CEO of Nike Inc., a survey was done on his annual compensation package, in the year 2012. Mark G. Parker earned a total compensation of $15,425,608, which included a base salary of $1,609,615, a cash bonus of $594,190, stocks granted of $3,500,087, options granted of $4,199,250, and non-equity incentive plan compensation listed at $5,522,466.
On his personal front
Apart from handling a diverse set of roles, representing Nike Inc., he was also quite active persuading other interests in his personal life too. He was not an idle geek, sitting at the computer and sipping a cup of coffee, while at home. He has actively participated in quite a lot of marathons, sponsored by the Nike brand. He ran on the Penn State track team.
He has also got a distinguished set of rare paintings and art collectibles, to flaunt with. He recently started his own website on pop music and collected chart busters, forming the part and parcel of the website, as such. It was showcased as ‘The Unreal artwork inside the office of Nike CEO, Mark Parker’. The artists representing Mr Parker’s repository included AdonnaKhare, Andy Warhol, Mark Rayden, Tim Biskup and a lot many. He has also got original props and models from Mars Attack (1996), The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), Back to the future (1989) and The Batman (1989).
He is married to Kathy and the couple is blessed with three children namely, Jennifer, Megan and Matthew.
| Awards and Accolades | |
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He was awarded with the titled ‘Corporate Vice President’. |
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He was named as the CEO of the Year in the year 2014. |
| Professional Affiliations | |
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Pennsylvania State University |
| Quotes | |
 The
lessons I learned as a young athlete have served me well throughout my
career. It's where I developed confidence, a sense of commitment to a
team (and myself), the discipline it takes to achieve goals and the
importance of listening to leadership. |
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| Bowerman's
belief in constant improvement was a great influence on me. I'm always
asking, "Where can we be better?" When you serve athletes, who by
definition are in a constant state of progression, we have to be
looking ahead and thinking about the future opportunities across sport
and our business every day.. |
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| We
have many examples where a breakthrough idea has become a scalable
business — Air technology, Free, Flyknit. Each of these was conceived
through creative thinking and an authentic insight into sport, but none
would've had the impact they've had without the support of the broader
business. |
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| We're
fortunate that Nike is filled with amazing talent with diverse
experience. Our employees here at WHQ come from all over the world and
we operate in 190 countries. |
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| We
can then take those insights, along with those we get directly from
thousands of athletes, and translate them into real innovation. Nike is
a brand that inspires people. But to inspire others, you have to first
be inspired yourself. |
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| I
also love sitting down with the athletes and having deep discussions
with them and trying to get some insight into what’s motivating them,
what’s inspiring them, listening to what they think can help us improve
our designs. |
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| More
than anything my aim is to support design because our dedication to
problem solving and innovation is ultimately what separates us and our
athletes from our competitors. | |
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