Under Armour Loses Another High-Ranking Female Exec, This Time in the HR Function
Under Armour has lost another top-ranking female executive.
The Baltimore-based athletic brand announced in a Tuesday SEC filing that its chief people and administrative officer Tchernavia Rocker will be leaving the company on June 1, 2024 “for personal reasons.” She joined the company in 2019 as its chief people and culture officer, a then-newly created title to emphasize the firm’s focus on its employees and their overall work satisfaction. She joined the brand amid a wave of controversy in 2019 and several reported executive departures after reports alleged a years-long practice of staffers’ expensing strip club visits and women being invited to company functions based on their attractiveness.
Rocker was also heavily involved in Under Armour’s diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and transitioned to the role of chief people and administrative officer in June 2020.
Rocker’s departure marks another notable female exit at the company that lost its highest ranking female executive — chief executive officer Stephanie Linnartz — in March after just a year on the job. Linnartz was the company’s first female CEO and was replaced by Kevin Plank, the brand’s founder.
In a statement, Plank thanked Rocker for her five years of service to the company.
“Always with a focus on the heart of our business, Tchernavia has played a pivotal role in building, while fostering a culture of inclusion, diversity, and teammate development – efforts that contributed to Under Armour being recognized as one of the most trustworthy companies in America,” he said. “Tchernavia will be missed, and we wish her all of our best.”
According to a recent study from S&P Global Market Intelligence, growth in women’s representation across all senior leadership positions in the U.S. plunged to 0.5 percent in 2023, the lowest rate in over a decade compared to the 1.2 percent average. Within C-suite roles, female representation regressed for the first time since 2005, with women holding just 11.8 percent of C-suite roles in 2023, down from 12.2 percent in 2022.
At the same time, diversity progress has lost its momentum in footwear and other industries almost four years after George Floyd’s murder sparked a long overdue racial reckoning in corporate America. In analyzing earnings call transcripts, S&P Global Market Intelligence found that public companies are speaking less and less about diversity and inclusion. Since 2020, mentions of ‘diversity’ and ‘inclusion’ on S&P 500 earnings calls have been on a downward trend, with mentions for the 2023 fiscal year the lowest since 2012.