Sportswear giant Adidas has appointed Amanda Rajkumar to its Executive Board.
Beginning of 2021, the British national and HR professional will join the then six-member strong Executive Board of the sporting goods company as Executive Board Member responsible for Global Human Resources.
Rajkumar will take over the role after Karen Parkin exited the company amidst controversy regarding the company’s diversity and inclusion agenda.
Amanda Rajkumar began her professional career in 1993 as a research psychologist. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Goldsmiths College, London University and has over 24 years of human resources experience in global organizations.
She joins Adidas from BNP Paribas, where over 11 years, she held a number of executive HR leadership positions for different business divisions based out of the UK and the U.S. Most recently she was Head of Human Resources for the Americas region, including responsibility for the Intermediary holding company of BNP Paribas in the Americas.
Prior to this, she worked for JPMorgan for almost a decade in various senior HR management positions. Her previous professional positions include the London-based recruitment consultancy JM Management, and.
On the occasion of the appointment of Amanda Rajkumar as a member of the Adidas Executive Board, Thomas Rabe, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Adidas AG said, “Amanda Rajkumar is a true HR professional. Her longstanding expertise in human resources and her profound understanding of people care and inclusion will be an excellent addition to the Executive Board and Adidas. I am delighted that the Executive Board is complete again and that Adidas can start the new year with full strength”.
Adding to this, Kasper Rorsted, CEO of Adidas said, “Adidas is one of the most popular employers worldwide and diversity characterizes Adidas like few other companies. We not only want to maintain this position, we want to strengthen it and make adidas a truly diverse, inclusive, people-driven and equitable company. I am confident that with Amanda Rajkumar in this important leadership role and the continued strong commitment and dedication of our nearly 60,000 employees, we will succeed in doing so”.
Speaking on her appointment, Amanda Rajkumar said: “I am hugely excited to be joining Adidas, a company as popular as it is well known. Adidas has a prominent and rich history in this extraordinary industry and has already accomplished so much but can still achieve so much more. The talent and creativity within the firm speak for itself and I cannot wait to immerse myself in the employee base and culture. With the company’s core values aligned to my own, I am thrilled about the opportunity to help shape and define the future of Adidas.”