Academy Sports & Outdoors Names Chief Customer Officer

Academy Sports and Outdoors has named Chad Fox to the newly created role of executive vice president and chief customer officer. He will oversee omni-channel, marketing, customer insights, and customer care. Fox joined Academy in January 2024, and reports directly to Steve Lawrence, company chief executive officer.

Fox brings nearly 25 years of retail, agency, and consumer packaged goods marketing experience to Academy. Previously, he served as senior vice president & chief marketing officer at Dollar General. While there, he led the brand strategy, marketing, media and digital teams and was responsible for strengthening the voice of the customer, generating increased traffic, improving customer engagement, and leading the in-house retail media network. 

Prior to Dollar General, Fox was vice president of Retail Marketing with Walmart, where he guided marketing and media activities across all merchandising categories, seasonal events, and digital products and services. He also held leadership roles at Tyson Foods and The Richards Group. 

"Chad brings a wealth of retail brand strategy, marketing, media, data analytics, and digital experience that Academy will leverage,” Lawrence said. “This is vital as we work to execute our long-term growth initiatives to attract and engage customers through communications, content and experiences and build a more powerful omni-channel business, while continuing to build Academy's brand awareness as we grow in existing and new markets."