title: “Puma Reshuffles Leadership: Digital and Core Business Get New Captains” source: https://www.worldfootwear.com/news/puma-announces-two-senior-leadership-appointments/11661.html date: 2026-07-27

Puma Reshuffles Leadership: Digital and Core Business Get New Captains

Puma has announced two senior leadership appointments that reveal the sportswear giant’s strategic priorities as it navigates a rapidly evolving retail landscape. Dusan Hamlin joins as Vice President of E-Commerce, while Marcia dos Santos takes the helm of the newly created Core Business Unit. Both moves signal a company rethinking how it sells, what it sells, and to whom.

Hamlin arrives with an impeccable digital pedigree. Over 25 years in the industry, he’s held leadership positions in digital and e-commerce transformation at both Reebok and adidas — direct competitors in the sportswear space. He’s also co-founded and managed several companies, including M&C Saatchi Performance and This Place, and served on the board of Asteria Corporation. His mandate at Puma is clear: oversee the global strategy and commercial direction of the company’s digital and e-commerce business, with a focus on strengthening online sales and improving the consumer shopping experience.

The appointment follows Puma’s decision in late 2025 to split its direct-to-consumer business into two dedicated areas: Global Retail and Global E-Commerce. That separation is significant. It acknowledges that physical retail and digital commerce require fundamentally different skill sets, operating models, and metrics. Treating them as a single “DTC” function, as many brands have done, often results in neither getting the attention it deserves. Matthias Bäumer, Puma’s Chief Commercial Officer, was effusive: “With Dusan, we have found a proven digital transformation expert to take Puma’s E-Commerce to the next level.”

Dos Santos, meanwhile, comes from Nike, where she most recently served as Vice President of Merchandising for the Women’s EMEA division. Her appointment as VP of the newly created Core Business Unit — reporting to Chief Brand Officer Maria Valdes — follows Puma’s decision to establish dedicated teams for its Sportstyle and Core businesses. This restructuring suggests Puma is taking a harder look at its product portfolio, separating performance-driven categories from lifestyle-oriented ones.

The creation of a dedicated Core Business Unit is particularly interesting for a company that has historically blurred the lines between performance sport and lifestyle. Puma’s strength has always been its cultural relevance — think Rihanna’s Fenty collaboration, the Suede’s enduring presence in hip-hop culture, and the brand’s deep roots in football. But cultural relevance without operational discipline is a recipe for margin erosion. By putting a seasoned merchandising executive in charge of the core business, Puma is signalling that it intends to manage its heritage portfolio with the same rigour it applies to new product launches.

For the footwear industry at large, these appointments reflect broader trends. The digital-versus-physical retail debate is being resolved not in favour of one or the other, but in favour of specialisation. Brands that try to be everything everywhere — omnichannel in the truest sense — often end up being mediocre at everything. Puma’s decision to split DTC into retail and e-commerce, and to bring in dedicated leadership for each, is an acknowledgement that the future belongs to specialists, not generalists.

The poaching of a senior Nike executive is also worth noting. Nike has been a talent factory for the sportswear industry for decades, and executives who’ve cut their teeth in Beaverton bring a particular set of instincts — data-driven, brand-led, and relentlessly consumer-focused. Whether dos Santos can translate that Nike DNA into Puma’s more culturally fluid environment will be one of the more interesting storylines to watch.

Source: World Footwear