Fanatics names Gina Sprenger as first chief strategic retail officer

By

Gabriella Lacombe

Published
Jan 15, 2020

Sportswear retailer and licensing company Fanatics has promoted Gina Sprenger to the role of the company’s first ever chief strategic retail officer. 

In the newly created role, Sprenger will lead all merchandising, inventory management and field operations for the company’s strategic retail division, including all flagship stores, stadium and in-venue retail locations as well as special events like the Kentucky Derby and NHL’s Winter Classic.

She will lead the team of 1,800 employees that manages 175 flagship, venue and event properties across all professional sport and several NCAA partners, which also includes oversight of merchandising, field operations, and inventory management, the company said. 

Springer first joined Fanatics in 2016, and most recently led Fanatics’ NCAA e-commerce business and hardgoods businesses, in addition to managing all merchandising efforts across the company’s physical retail locations. While in the role, she led the development and expansion of Fanatics’ more fashion-oriented Better Brands initiative, which the company said has been instrumental in introducing new women’s merchandising programs across all leagues and teams.

Prior to Fanatics, she served as executive vice president of merchandising at Minneapolis-based Bluestem Brands and spent over 20 years at Target, where she held a variety of leadership roles. 

As chief strategic retail officer, Sprenger will continue to report to Jack Boyle, Fanatics global co-president of direct-to-consumer retail. She will also join the executive leadership team of CEO Doug Mack.

“[Sprenger has] made a significant impact in bolstering our omnichannel capabilities over the past three years, and there’s no doubt that her leadership, commitment and forward-thinking vision will be a benefit to our hundreds of partners as we continue to innovate the licensed sports industry,” said Boyle. 

Sprenger’s promotion marks the latest update to Fanatics’ leadership team since the company named Michener Chandlee, Nike’s former corporate audit and chief risk officer, as its new chief financial officer in September of 2019.

Launched by Michael Rubin in 2011, Fanatics holds licensing deals with major league sports organizations like the NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA and Nascar, in addition to a variety of collegiate partners.