Big hire for Dr Martens as Adidas exec Murphy to join as new chief brand officer

In a busy period of making key senior appointments, Dr Martens has now added former Adidas exec Carla Murphy as its new chief brand officer to lead the fashion footwear retailer’s global brand ops.

Joining Dr Martens’ global leadership team and based in London, she will be responsible for driving brand strategy, vision and creative direction, while overseeing the global product, strategy, marketing, and sustainability divisions.

She will also lead a “world-class team, recently strengthened with senior executives across creative direction, product design, category management and marketing”, reporting to CEO Ije Nwokorie.

Her executive leadership team posts at Adidas included global senior VP/GM for Adidas Outdoor, based at its HQ in Germany. Here, she was responsible for the end-to-end strategy, management and execution globally for the outdoor category, which included adidas Terrex and Five Ten, the brand’s outdoor sports and technical footwear, apparel and accessories propositions.

Murphy also has over 20 years’ brand building and enterprise management experience across multiple industries, channels and categories including lifestyle and performance footwear and apparel. 

She was also previously global chief brand & product officer for lifestyle Merino brand Icebreaker, part of VF Corp, and has held senior brand and product positions across brands within the Amer Sports group (Nikita, Salomon, Atomic, Arc’teryx etc). Early in her career she also led multi-disciplinary global brand consultancies.

Nwokorie said of the key appointment: “Carla is an exceptional leader with a proven track record for using bold storytelling and fearless creativity to drive growth for world-renowned brands, and she will do amazing work with our immensely talented brand and creative teams.”

Murphy added: “Joining the team and the brand at this moment is incredibly exciting, the ambition and energy is high, and there is a tremendous opportunity in this next chapter to break new ground and connect with an even wider audience in a truly meaningful and culturally relevant way.”

Her appointment follows several key senior hires including Neil Cummings, creative director for Global Brand Studio; Emma Howarth, category director; Adam Owen, global design director; and Paul Bowyer, global brand marketing director.