Jordan Brand VP of Footwear Gentry Humphrey Announces Retirement
Humphrey has been with Nike, Inc. since 1994 and has contributed to culture-shifting projects like the Air Jordan line and the Foamposite series.
After nearly three decades with Nike, Jordan Brand VP of Footwear Gentry Humphrey has announced his retirement. Humphrey started his career with the Swoosh all the way back in 1994, and has worked on a veritable plethora of projects, ranging from reinvigorating the Air Jordan line after Michael Jordan‘s first retirement to pushing Jordan Brand to begin its retro initiative in the late ’90s.
After his years with Jordan, Humphrey worked with Nike Sportswear on bringing back models from Penny Hardaway and Charles Barkley‘s signature lines in the mid 2010s. In August 2015, Nice Kicks‘ Nick DePaula reported that Humphrey would be leaving Nike, Inc., but Humphrey returned in September 2015 — accepting a position with Nike Golf, where he stayed until 2018 before rejoining Jordan Brand.
The news of Humphrey’s retirement was announced by a Nike company email. This email states that Humphrey will be stepping down on September 30, 2021, and replaced by Kris Wright on October 1, 2021. Wright, Nike’s current Vice President of global men’s footwear and sport lifestyle product has an impressive portfolio of his own, highlighted by his efforts on Virgil Abloh‘s Off-White™ x Nike “The Ten” collection in 2017. Wright has been with Nike since 2011, and prior to joining the Swoosh spent time at Reebok from 2000-2004, where he worked with artists like JAY-Z and G-Unit through the RBK Music sub-label.
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