Eric Artz Retiring as REI President and CEO | News
Eric Artz, president and CEO of REI Co-op, today announced that he will retire in March as CEO, a role he’s held since 2019. He joined the outdoor retailer in 2012.
Mary Beth Laughton, a former REI board member who has held leadership roles at Nike, Athleta, and Sephora, will join REI as president on Feb. 3, before assuming full CEO responsibilities on March 31. Most recently, she led Nike’s global direct-to-consumer business, prior to which she served as president and CEO of Athleta, and ran North America stores and digital for Sephora.
Sumner-headquartered REI has a large office in Issaquah, where Laughton will be based when she’s not visiting stores, distribution facilities, and spending time with employees, members, partners, and advocates for the outdoors, Chris Carr, chair of REI’s board, said in a note today to employees and co-op members. Laughton is currently living in the Portland area with her husband and two teenaged children. She will be REI’s ninth president and CEO in its 87-year history.
“Eric has led and stabilized REI through some of the most challenging years the retail sector and our co-op ever faced,” Carr said in a news release. “REI is in a strong position today because he always kept our purpose, values, and people as his north star. Mary Beth has the ideal experience to build on this foundation and to lead REI forward into our next chapter. The world needs a strong REI, and we are confident Mary Beth will hit the ground running.”
Laughton’s experience and personal passion balance strategic vision for the future of retail, innovation and operational rigor, love for the outdoors, and appreciation for the co-op’s unique culture, the release said. She has also held board roles with Impossible Foods and Instacart. During the transition period, she will be on the road and in stores and distribution centers, building connections with employees, partners, and community members, the release added.
In a letter to employees this morning, Artz said, “Serving you and this enduring organization has been the honor of my professional life. Being outside means something different for everyone and our job is not to tell people what that looks like. It is to show one another and to welcome others, always making time outside more accessible to more people in more ways. That is worth fighting for.”
Mary Beth Laughton will join REI as president on Feb. 3 and assume full CEO responsibilities on March 31.
Laughton praised REI’s balance of purpose and performance, and cited the importance of ensuring REI thrives for future generations.
“That is a big responsibility — one I embrace with utmost respect for our millions of members and the thousands of employees whose passion for life outside and deep expertise set the co-op apart,” she said in the release. “I know that we will go further together and cannot wait to join you and build our future.”
In 2023, REI reported about 15,000 employees and more than 24 million members. It also reported $3.76 billion in revenue in 2023, down 2.4% from 2022, and posted a $311 million net loss, according to figures released last April. That loss was largely driven by three factors: REI’s commitment to continue investing in hourly employee pay, commitment to providing a member reward, and a $169 million non-cash valuation allowance against its deferred tax assets, it said. For 2023, it invested $57 million in employee retirement and performance incentives and distributed more than $200 million in co-op member rewards.
In today’s release, REI said its board and executive leadership team remain focused on ensuring stability for employees, members, and partners while building on growth the co-op saw at the end of 2024. It added that it expects to meet its 2024 goals of break-even operating profit (pre-dividend operating income) and near break-even free cash flow, which it called a significant improvement over 2023.
While Laughton will make Issaquah her office base, like all REI employees, she can visit and work from different facilities; REI is a mobile-first company that offers employees flexible work options, the company said in an email. It went to that model during the pandemic in 2020, when it opted to sell what was to be its new corporate campus in Bellevue’s Spring District. It was purchased by what is today known as Meta.
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