Fanatics Adds Ashford to C-Suite Role as Executive Hiring Spree Continues
Fanatics has hired Orlando Ashford, former executive at Coca-Cola and Motorola, to be the company’s first chief people officer.
Ashford will be one of just six people who report directly to Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin. In the newly created role, he will oversee human resources across the entire Fanatics Holdings portfolio. He will also serve as a strategic advisor to the rest of the Fanatics executive team around diversity, inclusion and equality.
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Ashford is the latest in a spree of executive hires for Fanatics, the world’s largest seller of licensed sports merchandise, which is rapidly expanding its business in new directions like NFTs, trading cards and sports betting. So far this year the company has named two new board members, hired a new general counsel and filled multiple C-suite roles for both its collectibles and gaming divisions.
“As we continue to grow and expand, it becomes even more important to double down on organizational development,” Rubin said in a statement. “[Ashford’s] vast experience running HR teams and his CEO level experience, with people and culture being the primary lens for how he’s managed and operated his businesses, will help us further develop our ambitions to build one of the world’s most transformative and exciting brands.”
Ashford has previously worked at a trio of Fortune 500 companies—Marsh & McLennan (NYSE: MMC), Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) and Motorola—in addition to a handful of other corporate roles and board positions. Prior to joining Fanatics, he was a strategic advisor to private equity firm Sycamore Partners. He is chairman of the board at pharmaceutical company Perrigo.
The chief people officer position has grown in popularity in recent years, as companies place increased emphasis on workplace culture, professional development, and inclusion. The role has taken on added importance since the start of the pandemic, now that remote work, return-to-office policies and new expectations from employees further shift the requirements of HR.
