Puma under Anta's influence: Dennis Tao chairs the board, Arne Arens joins management
After the arrival of Chinese group Anta, Puma is reshaping its leadership. Anta executive Dennis Tao is the new supervisory board chair, and Arne Arens becomes sales chief.
Archive image · Photo: Daniel Cox / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped and resized)
German sportswear maker Puma, based in Herzogenaurach, has a new supervisory board chair. At an extraordinary meeting on October 21 the board elected Dennis Tao, 50, head of M&A and capital markets at Anta Sports. Anta took over the stake held by French holding company Artémis earlier in October and is Puma's largest shareholder. The terms of former chair Héloïse Temple-Boyer and of Jean-Marc Duplaix ended as a result. Jeanne Huang, chief executive of Pipa International, also joined the board.
A day later Puma announced a new member of its executive board: Arne Arens, 55, will become Chief Commercial Officer on November 15, in charge of global sales. The Dutchman previously held senior roles at Nike, The North Face and Boardriders and most recently ran textile technology company Unspun. He succeeds Matthias Bäumer, who left at the end of September. Chief executive Arthur Hoeld praised Arens' proven track record in building brands and working with wholesale partners.