Puma’s Revolving Door Persists With Two More Executive Changes, With One Addition From Nike

Puma’s Revolving Door Persists With Two More Executive Changes, With One Addition From Nike

Stephen Garner

Tue, September 22, 2026 at 7:34 PM GMT+3 3 min read

In what seems to be weekly management changes, Puma has made two more updates to its European leadership.

On Monday, the German athletic company named Fokko de Rooij as its new managing director of Europe, effective Oct. 1. In this role, he will report to Puma chief executive officer Arthur Hoeld, who has also temporarily taken over the duties of the chief commercial officer until a successor can be found.

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Puma's newest executive joins after nearly 21 years at Nike, most recently serving as vice president of sales for the EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa) region. While in the role, de Rooij managed to return the wholesale business back to growth through a strategic commercial reset.

During his time at Nike, he also held roles like vice president of supply chain for Greater China, general manager of running for Northern Europe and director of customer operations in Europe.

Since leaving the Swoosh in 2025, de Rooij has worked as an independent advisor to CEOs and boards in the sporting goods and fashion industry.

"I'm very excited to continue my career in the sporting goods industry at Puma," de Rooij said in a statement. "I look forward to building on Puma's rich heritage and strong brand position to further accelerate the European business. Doing this as part of one of the strongest teams in the industry is a dream come true."

In addition to de Rooij, Puma has promoted Daniel Pustina as managing director of Cluster Central, effective immediately. He will report directly to de Rooij and will oversee the important European markets DACH (Germany, Austria and Switzerland), Benelux (Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg), Eastern Europe and Ukraine.

Pustina has been with Puma in various roles since 2020, most recently as managing director of the Oceania region based in Melbourne. Before moving to Australia, he held several leadership roles covering DACH and Central Europe.

Prior to joining Puma, Pustina served as lead mentor for the accelerator program at Hype Sports Innovation. He also spent nearly five years at Under Armour in various roles such as senior director of key accounts for EMEA and regional director of DACH. Pustina got his start in the industry at Adidas, spending nearly 12 years there in roles like senior director of sales and brand marketing.

According to Puma, the leadership of the two remaining European clusters South (France, Italy, Spain and Portugal) and North (United Kingdom and Ireland, Nordics) remains unchanged, Puma noted. Both Christophe Cance (South) and Lucynda Davies (North) will also report to de Rooij going forward.

De Rooij replaces Javier Ortega while Pustina replaces Bas van den Bemt, both of whom left the company this month.

"The European market is a key pillar for Puma," Hoeld added in a statement. "That's why I'm happy we have found two leaders to advance the business in line with our strategic priorities. With Fokko, we have found an internationally experienced leader with a successful track record of leading organizations through large-scale transformations. At the same time, Daniel is well positioned to drive Puma's commercial performance in the important Cluster Central, given his deep understanding of the central European market."

The news comes amid a barrage of executive changes at Puma. Earlier this month, Puma's first female North American president, Tara McRae, left the firm for a new role at Skechers.

This month also saw the exit of longtime Puma executive Matthias Baeumer, who stepped down from his role as chief commercial officer. In July, the company named Dusan Hamlin to fill the newly created role of vice president of e-commerce. He was set to report to Baeumer.

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