Lauren Hobart

Lauren R. Hobart is the CEO of Dick's Sporting Goods, taking over for long-time CEO, Edward Stack. Hobart has made the women’s athletic apparel and footwear market a bigger focus at Dick’s Sporting Goods, helping to drive the launch of additional private labels. She has helped Dick’s refocus its strategy to compete against Amazon and Walmart, as a number of its sporting goods rivals — such as Sports Authority, Sport Chalet and City Sports — have filed for bankruptcy and shuttered stores in recent years. She has helped the company refocus its inventories on key categories like youth sports, improve customer service and add in-store experiences like batting cages, to offer shoppers something they cannot find on the internet.

Hobart joined DICK'S in February 2011 as Senior Vice President, Chief Marketing Officer and was promoted to Executive Vice President, Chief Marketing Officer in 2015, with responsibility over DICK'S, Golf Galaxy and Field & Stream marketing. Hobart brings more than 25 years of finance, consumer and retail experience and spent 14 years at PepsiCo in various leadership roles before she joined DICK'S as Chief Marketing Officer in 2011. She was appointed President in 2017 and joined the board of directors the following year. Since joining DICK'S, Ms. Hobart has revamped the company's marketing efforts and helped drive its robust eCommerce strategy, among other substantive growth initiatives. She has enhanced the company's exceptional customer service offering and improved the omni-channel customer experience.

In addition to leading the company through the health and economic crises in 2020, Mr. Stack and Ms. Hobart have together championed the company's support of youth sports through its groundbreaking Sports Matter initiative. DICK'S and the DICK'S Sporting Goods Foundation have provided more than $100 million in grants and sponsorships since 2014 to enable more than one million kids the opportunity to play and to raise awareness and address the issue of underfunded youth sports programs nationwide.

In 2020, Hobart was selected to succeed Edward Stack as CEO of Dick's Sporting Goods, effective February 1, 2021. Hobart also serves as President of The Dick’s Sporting Goods Foundation, as well as on the Board of Directors for Sonic Corp and Yum! Brands.

Prior to working at DICK'S, Ms. Hobart spent 14 years with PepsiCo, Inc., most recently serving as Chief Marketing Officer for its Carbonated Soft Drink portfolio in the United States. During her career at PepsiCo, Ms. Hobart held several other significant marketing roles and also spent several years in strategic planning. Prior to joining PepsiCo, Ms. Hobart worked in commercial banking for JP Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo Bank. Ms. Hobart also serves as a member of the Board of Directors of Sonic Corp.