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Newly unsealed court documents have revealed allegations of sexual misconduct involving several Nike executives, including some who remain in senior roles, contradicting earlier company statements.
The records emerged following a three-year legal battle between Nike and multiple media outlets, and detail a range of allegations, from consensual relationships with subordinates to unwanted sexual remarks and unspecified harassment.
Among the executives named are former senior figures such as Charlie Denson, a former Nike president; Don Blair, the company's ex-chief financial officer; and Tinker Hatfield, a renowned sneaker designer. The documents also describe former chief human resources officer David Ayre as a "well-known harasser.”
Nike's response and past actions
Nike responded to the revelations by issuing a statement, that said: "Nike is committed to a workplace that is respectful and inclusive of all employees, and we do not tolerate discrimination or harassment in any form".
The company highlighted its 2018 internal investigation that followed an anonymous employee-created survey known as the Starfish surveys. The company claimed that subsequent changes to policies and procedures have improved workplace conditions.
“In 2018, Nike conducted a large-scale investigation in response to the reports received from employees, including those who responded to an anonymous employee-created survey, and took corrective action where appropriate,” Nike said in the statement. “Nike has also changed policies and procedures to make it easier for employees to raise concerns. Those changes continue to exist today and have made Nike better. We remain committed to creating a workplace where everyone can thrive, and where we hold ourselves accountable to our values.”
The Starfish surveys played a significant role in a long-running sex discrimination lawsuit that reached a tentative settlement last month. The lawsuit alleged systemic gender-based discrimination and harassment, with plaintiffs arguing that revealing the names of executives was crucial for understanding the extent of the reported issues.
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Disputed claims and ongoing fallout
In 2018, Nike told media outlets that the Starfish complaints mainly concerned mid-level managers. Yet the unsealed documents suggest that some senior executives were implicated, contradicting those earlier assertions.
The allegations include claims that Hatfield instructed a personal trainer at Nike’s campus gym to "dress sexier" and "show some skin," leaving her feeling "intimidated and degraded." Hatfield denied the claims, with his lawyer dismissing them as "gossip written on a bathroom stall.”
The unsealed records also detail how Ayre's 2017 memo on pay equity sparked the Starfish surveys, further intensifying employee concerns.
The three news outlets that intervened in the lawsuit, The Oregonian/OregonLive, Business Insider, and the Portland Business Journal, sought the documents’ release, arguing that they were of significant public interest.
Nike initially resisted the move, appealing a court ruling in 2024 that ordered the names to be unredacted. The Court of Appeals upheld the decision, resulting in the release of the contested records.
