Helly Hansen appoints ex-Adidas global chief

Former Adidas global marketing chief Jan Valdmaa has been appointed chief executive of Norwegian outdoor-wear brand Helly Hansen.

Valdmaa succeeds Erik Stensrud, whose three-year contract has expired. Stensrud is believed not to be seeking another position at the moment for personal reasons.

In a separate development, Helly Hansen chief operating officer and former managing director of Adidas in the UK Bob McCulloch was this week appointed chief executive of BSkyB’s new online retailing operation SkySportstore.com.

McCulloch and Stensrud were appointed on fixed, three-year contracts when Bahrain-based Invest Corp took over Helly Hansen three years ago.

The pair helped to rebuild the business, which has performed strongly in the UK over the past year.

Valdmaa, who was head of marketing and an executive board member of Adidas-Salomon, left the German company at the start of the year. He was replaced by Erich Stamminger, joint head of marketing for Europe and Asia.

Valdmaa says: “Over the past three years we have seen exceptional developments in the company’s operation.

“Together with tremendous brand attributes, we have the foundations to build Helly Hansen into a strong and successful international performance brand.”

In April, former Adidas marketer Andy Towne was promoted to Helly Hansen’s global head of marketing.