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Nike names Gilt CEO Michelle Peluso to board of directors [The Oregonian, Portland, Ore. :: ](Oregonian (Portland, OR) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) April 17--Nike on Thursday announced that Michelle A. Peluso has been appointed to the company's board of directors. Peluso, 42, is chief executive officer of Gilt, an online luxury goods retailer. "Michelle's leadership experience in marketing, branding, innovation and digital media for global brands makes her an outstanding addition to our board," Nike co-founder and board chairman Phil Knight said in a news release. "We look forward to her contributions to expand Nike's position as the world's leading athletic brand and industry innovator." Peluso served on the Gilt board of directors until her appointment as chief executive officer, starting in February last year. Prior to joining Gilt, she served as global consumer chief marketing and internet officer of Citigroup Inc. from 2009 to 2013; and from 2002 to 2009, she held senior management positions at Travelocity.com LP, being appointed chief operating officer in 2003, and president and chief executive officer in 2004. Prior to joining Travelocity, in 1999 she founded Site59, an online travel site, serving as its chief executive officer until its acquisition by Travelocity in 2002. Peluso was also a director of OpenTable, Inc. from 2008 to 2012. Prior to leading Site59, Peluso served as a White House Fellow in the Clinton Administration and senior advisor to Labor Secretary Alexis Herman and worked as a case leader for The Boston Consulting Group in New York and London. A Dec. 30, 2013 profile in The Irish Times touches on one of Peluso's management axioms: As for Peluso's role at the helm of the shopping website, she says: "I never want to be a lonely arrogant CEO that is fed b----t by everyone else." She received her master's degree in economics, philosophy and politics from Pembroke College at Oxford University where she was a Thoroun Scholar, and her bachelor's degree from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business. No Nike products were available on the gilt.com site Thursday. Earlier this year, Gilt was poised for an initial public offering and had selected Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to manage the IPO, Bloomberg reported. Peluso's Gilt, by the way, is not in any way related to Portland's Gilt. The vintage and antique jewelry retailer Gilt at 720 N.W. 23rd Ave. celebrates its 20th year in business in August, all spent at that location. -- Allan Brettman ___ (c)2014 The Oregonian (Portland, Ore.) Visit The Oregonian (Portland, Ore.) at www.oregonian.com Distributed by MCT Information Services |