Nike named David Denton as its next CFO on Monday, bringing in the Pfizer Inc. finance chief to replace Matthew Friend as the sportswear company works through a sluggish turnaround.
The transition is set for Aug. 17, when Friend will exit the CFO position, though he will continue in an advisory capacity at Nike until Sept. 4, the company said
Friend will participate in Nike’s fourth-quarter fiscal 2026 earnings call on June 30, as planned. Denton, 60, has served as CFO and executive vice president at Pfizer since May 2022. His career spans more than three decades in finance at major public companies.
Prior to his tenure at Pfizer, Denton was the top finance executive at Lowe’s Companies Inc. from 2018 to 2022, and before that logged roughly twenty years at CVS Health Corporation, including a stint as its CFO. “Dave is a proven public-company CFO who knows how to help great consumer brands operate with discipline and invest to win,” Nike president and CEO Elliott Hill said in a statement. According to a securities filing, Denton’s pay package at Nike includes a $1.45 million annual base salary, a bonus target set at 120% of that figure, and long-term incentive awards targeted at $11.5 million per year. A separate $7.25 million cash payment will be made to Denton as a sign-on award, replacing equity and other earnings he is forfeiting by leaving Pfizer, according to The Wall Street Journal.