Jason Loveland vacates VP of AI role at Nike as he prepares to take on a new challenge

Jason Loveland has left Nike, where he spent seven and a half years, most recently serving as VP of AI.

This closely follows the departure of Ron Faris, who held the role of VP and GM at Nike Virtual Studios.

In a LinkedIn post, Loveland said: "After 7.5 incredible years at Nike, it’s time for me to take on a new challenge and join an exciting new company! More on this soon...I’m so proud of what we built."

He noted that highlights included: Building the AI/machine learning engineering team from the ground up; Partnering AI/ML engineering with data science to deploy and scale AI products globally; Establishing an AI platform, complete with ML ops and LLM ops, to power enterprise AI adoption; Leading Nike's generative AI initiative.

Loveland added: "Some of the highlights I’ll always cherish: partnering with the Nike Sport Research Lab (NSRL) to deliver athlete performance analytics; the acquisition and integration of Celect to power demand sensing and optimisation; creating algorithms for Nike Adapt smart footwear; and elevating search and recs with LLMs."

"Capping it all off was pioneering the first fine tuned generative AI model to design Nike products; revealed to the world at the Paris Olympics and Air Max Day. Leading our transformational generative AI initiative to deliver new revenue and productivity was the ultimate team sport."

He concluded; "As (Nike co-founder) Bill Bowerman said, “There is no finish line.” While I’m stepping into a new role, the race for innovation and impact never stops. Nike will always be a part of me. Thank you for the memories, the lessons, and the chance to help shape the future. Keep dreaming crazy. Keep moving fast. And always - Just Do It."

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