Kevin Plank
Founder, president and chief executive of Under Armour
Kevin Plank is the American entrepreneur who founded Under Armour in 1996 and built it into a global performance sportswear brand. He led the company as chief executive until the end of 2019 and returned to the role in April 2024.
| Role | Founder, president and CEO |
|---|---|
| Organisation | Under Armour |
| Born | 1972 |
| Founded | 1996 |
| CEO | 1996 to 2019; again since April 2024 |
Who is Kevin Plank?
Kevin Plank, born in 1972, is the founder of Under Armour, the Baltimore-based sportswear company. He started the business in 1996, the year he graduated in business administration from the University of Maryland, and remains its controlling shareholder. Fortune reported in 2024 that he controls about 65 percent of the company's voting shares.
Career
Plank's starting point was a performance T-shirt designed to keep athletes dry under their equipment, an alternative to cotton undershirts. From this base layer, Under Armour expanded into training apparel, footwear and accessories, and became one of the fastest-growing sportswear brands in the United States. The company passed one billion dollars in annual revenue in 2010.
- 1996: founds Under Armour
- 1996 to 2019: chief executive
- January 2020: Patrik Frisk succeeds him as CEO; Plank becomes executive chairman
- April 2024: returns as president and chief executive, succeeding Stephanie Linnartz
When Plank returned in April 2024, he became Under Armour's fourth chief executive in four years. The board at the same time named Mohamed El-Erian as non-executive chair.
Influence on the fashion business
Under Armour helped establish performance apparel as a mainstream category. Its emphasis on technical fabrics, aggressive athlete and team sponsorships and a bold brand voice positioned it as a challenger to Nike and adidas, particularly in North America. The rise of athleisure, in which training clothes are worn as everyday wear, owes much to the market that brands like Under Armour built in the 2000s.
The company's later difficulties, including slower growth and repeated leadership changes, have made it a closely watched case of a founder-led brand trying to regain momentum in a market where scale, product innovation and brand heat are increasingly concentrated among a few players.
Why it matters
Plank's career shows how a single, clearly defined product benefit can launch a global brand, and how difficult it is to sustain growth once the original insight has been widely copied. As controlling shareholder, Plank combines the roles of founder, chief executive and principal owner, which gives him considerable influence over the company's strategic direction. His return as chief executive in 2024 is also an example of a wider trend in which founders come back to lead turnarounds at the companies they created.
Frequently asked questions
Who is Kevin Plank?
Kevin Plank is the American founder of Under Armour. He started the company in 1996 with a moisture-wicking performance shirt and returned as its chief executive in April 2024.
When did Kevin Plank return as CEO of Under Armour?
Under Armour announced in March 2024 that Plank would return as chief executive effective 1 April 2024. He replaced Stephanie Linnartz, who had led the company for about 13 months.