Amid questions over his family’s role in tumultuous sneaker-reselling markets, a senior Nike vice president resigned on Monday. Anne Hebert resigned as head of Nike’s North American business a few days after the company defended her and said she had not violated any company policy.
Bloomberg Businessweek magazine reported on February 25 about her 19-year-old son Joe Hebert and his fast-growing sneaker company.
This article contains stories about Hebert’s work in the secondary sneaker market. His company, West Coast Streetwear, has explored the technology and how to use chutzpah to buy wholesale hot sneakers before the rest of the market. They then regularly resell the shoes at a generous profit margin.
The secondary sneaker market has become huge. It has the power to turn frustrating shoes into big sellers. Big companies that actually design products and build them, like Nike and built Didas, seem to be put into it.
Joshua Hunt wrote the original story for Bloomberg. He is no stranger to Nike. He wrote “University of Nike”, a strong impact on the relationship between Nike co-founder Phil Knight and the University of Reg Reagan.
“I haven’t decided to write another Nike story,” he told The Reg Regionian / OregonLive Monday. “I just knew there was something interesting in the secondary sneaker market after this explosion, so I went in search of a character to tell that story and came to Jom.”
Hunt writes that one day on the phone with Hebert, he saw Anne Hebert’s name on caller ID. He did a little research and learned that he was Nike’s vice president.
He eventually asked Hebert about his mother. The young entrepreneur insisted that his mother was not involved at all and then stopped communicating with Hunt.
Hunt then approached Nike for comment. Nike spokeswoman Sandra Karen-John says Ann Hebert released Nike-related information about West Coast Streetwear in 2018.
Karen-John said there was no breach of company policy, special information or conflict of interest, or any business connection between WCS LLC and Nike, including the direct purchase or sale of Nike products.
Everything changed on Monday. After more than 25 years with the company, Ann Hebert moved out. She received a major promotion just eight months ago, becoming vice president and general manager of North American operations, one of Nike’s very top jobs.
In that role, Anne Hebert led the sales, marketing, merchant and other departments.
Arriving for comment on Monday, Nike’s Karen-John simply said, “Anne Hebert decided to resign from Nike.”
The story comes about a month after former Nike marketing executive Errol & Ndam was charged in federal court with fraud and money laundering while he worked for the company. He alleged that he had a secret interest in running Nike’s work in a friend’s company.
