Nike Executive Quits After Son Allegedly Used Her Credit Card in Resale Business

Nike’s vice president and general manager of its North America division stepped down Monday after reports surfaced claiming she was allegedly tied to her son’s resale business.

Vice President Ann Hebert resigned after 25 years with the company, according to Business Insider.

Bloomberg Businessweek published an article Thursday about her son, Joe Herbert, who runs West Coast Streetwear, the Insider report said, adding that he allegedly used Hebert’s credit card to purchase more than $100,000 worth of limited-edition shoes to resell.

“At one point in late June, after his trip, he’d phoned me, and the number was identified as belonging to Ann Hebert,” the Businessweek article read:

I looked the name up and discovered there was an Ann Hebert who’d worked at Nike for 25 years and had recently been made its vice president and general manager for North America. The press release announcing her promotion noted that she would be “instrumental in accelerating our Consumer Direct Offense”—the Nike initiative that had helped fuel the sneaker-resale boom. Hebert later sent me a statement for an American Express corporate card for WCS LLC, to demonstrate West Coast Streetwear’s revenue, and it was in Ann’s name.

When I asked Hebert about the connection later that year, he acknowledged that Ann was his mother and said that, while she’d inspired him as a businessperson, she was so high up at Nike as to be removed from what he does, and that he’d never received inside information such as discount codes from her.

However, Joe asked the outlet not to mention his mother in the piece and stopped responding after the conversation.

“Nike said it planned to announce a new head of its North America division shortly,” Insider reported.

In November, the company was reportedly working to undermine a bill to punish China for using forced labor camps to manufacture goods sold in the west.

The New York Times said Nike, along with Apple, Adidas, H&M, Patagonia, Tommy Hilfiger, and others, reportedly hoped to hinder the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act.

Despite their efforts, the bill passed the House with bipartisan support in a vote of 406 to three.