New job at Puma: Director of Processes and Intelligence

By

Bruno Joly

Published
Feb 27, 2014

While Puma is currently facing difficulties, its aim is to become the fastest brand in sportswear. Last week during the presentation of its financial results, CEO Björn Gulden plugged the company's new slogan, Forever Faster, which will be used in its ad campaigns going forward as well as within the company and for product development. As part of this initiative, the equipment manufacturer owned by Kering has created the position of Global Director Business Processes and Intelligence.

The post has been assigned to 50-year-old Danish executive Lars Soerensen, who will work out of the company's headquarters in Herzogenaurach, Germany near Nuremberg. He will report to COO Andy Koehler, who himself was recruited from Adidas last May. Soerensen's responsibilities include the development of a global IT infrastructure.

As Puma’s shifts it focus back to sport performance, it has been tapping former Adidas management such as CEO Björn Gulden, who held the same role at Puma’s arch rival in the 1990s. From 2003 to 2008, Lars Soerensen was vice president in charge of global logistics at Adidas, and also held key positions at Bestseller, Spirit and Lego.

Another Adidas recruit is Jürgen Wormser, who became Puma's global director of footwear sourcing and development on February 3. His office is in Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam, where he will supervise purchasing for Puma's footwear division. He reports to Shirley Justice, general manager of global sourcing, who joined Puma in March 2013 after several years at Nike. 45-year-old Jürgen Wormser completed his apprenticeship at Puma in 1990 before joining next-door neighbor Adidas where he handled many tasks related to product development. He left Adidas in 2006 to join the Sports Gear Co., Ltd., one of the subcontractors for soccer equipment brands with factories in Vietnam and Cambodia.