Fanatics Commerce names new international president, chief product officer

Fanatics Commerce, the designer, manufacturer, and seller of fan gear, has appointed digital specialist Stephen Dowling to the newly created role of President of International.

He becomes one of three new appointments made to strengthen its senior leadership team.

Dowling joins from Adidas, where he spent six years leading and growing its direct-to-consumer digital business. Prior to this, he spent 10 years at Unilever, where he set up and led its direct-to-consumer e-commerce offering.

Based out of Fanatics’ Manchester, UK, office, Dowling will be responsible for continuing the growth of the Fanatics Commerce business outside of North America and will report to CEO Andrew Low Ah Kee.

Also joining is Justin Tsai who takes up another newly created role of Chief Product Officer and will lead its overall approach to consumer product management. He joins from Silver Lake. 

And Valerie Love is also appointed Chief People Officer, joining from The Coca-Cola Company. They will also report to Low Ah Kee.

The CEO said the trio “will play an invaluable role as we work toward elevating the experience of being a fan across all corners of the world. 

“We have an established international business that serves millions of fans worldwide and as our new President of International, Stephen brings a wealth of knowledge and experience in leading and growing digital businesses, which will be beneficial for our partners and fans as we move forward into our next chapter. I’m confident that under Stephen’s leadership our international business will significantly advance its global capabilities and improve the experience for the millions of sports fans that shop with us across the world every year.” 

Fanatics now operates more than 80 offices, manufacturing facilities and fulfilment centres across the world. Its international business has expanded rapidly over recent years and the company now partners more than 900 of the largest sporting organisations in the world, including Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain, AC Milan, Inter, Atletico Madrid, UEFA, International Olympic Committee, Tokyo Giants, The FA, NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB and Formula 1.