T'04

Michelle Mooradian

Senior Director of Strategy, Under Armour, Inc.

Tuck does a great job of breeding leaders and entrepreneurs. As a result, Tuck prepared me well to navigate my career and craft my own path.

After transferring to their New York office, Mooradian made the decision to switch careers and landed her current position as director of global strategy for Under Armour, arguably the world’s buzziest and most up-and-coming brand of performance athletic clothing, footwear, and accessories.

How has Under Armour reacted to its $2.3-billion sales success over the past year?

Everybody’s very excited, and it’s full steam ahead. The company’s very ambitious and entrepreneurial in spirit, which trickles down from our CEO, so there’s a lot of expectation for the future. This is the opportunity I was looking for when I was leaving consulting: a dynamic, fast-paced, and growing consumer company, where I can help drive the business and make changes relatively quickly, to realize direct and lasting impact on the future.

How did Tuck prepare you for your career?

Tuck served me well in two key respects. First, it does a great job of breeding leaders and entrepreneurs. As a result, Tuck prepared me well to navigate my career and craft my own path—this resulted in my capitalizing on opportunities to work with McKinsey and live abroad in Brazil, as well as to make the jump to a great position in industry. Second, Tuck is second to none in teaching team building and collaboration as a powerful force to drive business growth. These skills not only served me well in consulting, but are crucial to success in my current position. At Under Armour, “business as a team sport” is what we live and breathe everyday—we not only strive day-in and day-out to empower all athletes and make all athletes better as part of our company mission and vision, but are all athletes ourselves, working as one team to be the number-one global performance athletic brand.

What’s the key to effective strategy?

Balance. You have to balance investment in long-term goals versus short-term needs as well, as balancing having a vision and a plan versus being opportunistic and flexible when great breaks come along. Overall, strategy is thinking about the future and planning in a broad sense: you want to be ambitious, but there needs to be day-to-day practicality, too. The biggest challenge of a strategist is to constantly bring these two things in alignment.

Why has Under Armour’s new focus on women consumers and athletes been so successful?

The importance of women’s sports and the ever-growing number of athletic females provides a strong consumer group for Under Armour to speak to. In approaching this group, we’ve stayed very true to our brand’s strength and uniqueness, including being revolutionary in defining the “athlete,” which has set us apart from the competition. For instance, people may have been surprised when we signed Misty Copeland [the renowned African American ballerina for the American Ballet Theatre], but she’s very much in line with our unique and forward-thinking brand image: the groundbreaker, redefining sport, focused on performance, athleticism, and style. In this respect, signing Copeland is also amazing because she expands the definition of the woman “athlete.” Because Under Armour grew up so embedded in male-dominated sports like American football, this makes great strides both for our image outside the company, as well as for the evolution of our organization inside.

How have Under Armour’s recent major partnerships—for instance replacing Adidas as Notre Dame’s equipment sponsor—been received?

The Notre Dame partnership is huge for our brand, because their influence permeates college and pro athletics as well as international borders. As we work to expand our influence outside of North America, deals such as this, which increase our reach globally, will be crucial to our growth.

Why is now the right time for Under Armour to focus on international growth?

Our vision of global growth to 2020 is ambitious, but it’s the nature of this company to shoot for the stars, and that’s exactly what we’re doing. Going international is a big part of this strategy. There is a ton of opportunity for growth in regions outside of North America, and we have a brand that should resonate around the world. We see white space—tons of it—and are positioning ourselves to capture it.

Continue Reading

Related Stories

“Driving” Sustainability: Meet Yumi Otsuka T’07

T’07 Yumi Otsuka reflects on the green initiatives in Toyota’s production around the globe.

Read More

The Strategic Operator

Much of what Michael Aragon T’01, former CEO of MIRROR and lululemon digital fitness, has learned during his accomplished career is captured in his “operator’s manual,” a running guide of leadership lessons, insights, and advice. 

Read More

The Decisive Risk-Taker: Meet King Arthur Baking Co. CEO Karen Colberg T’91

Beginning early in her career, King Arthur Baking CEO Karen Colberg T’91 realized how important it was to embrace the long view and take some calculated risks.

Read More

Less Waste, Longer Use: Meet Nike’s Peggy Reid T’98

Through profitable reuse and recycling programs like Nike Grind, Circular Economy Director Peggy Reid T’98 is helping eliminate waste and creating a longer life for Nike’s products. 

Read More

Sweet Success: Meet Entrepreneur Sarah Bell T’14

A conversation with Sarah Bell T’14, cofounder of Spring & Mulberry, a plant-based, naturally-sweetened chocolate brand.

Read More

Alex Jenny

It’s mind-boggling to think about how much work goes into making and shipping a pair of sneakers, even to Alex Jenny D’10, T’16, who’s been at Allbirds for several years.

Read More

Liz Nordlie

Nordlie has had a successful career that’s spanned the course of three decades, the majority of which she spent at General Mills, managing and integrating large acquisitions and spearheading turnarounds for well-known brands.

Read More

Hope Waldron

"When I moved from brand strategy to my current role at VF Corp., I had no supply chain experience, but the fact that I was able to make that move is a testament to the breadth of the knowledge I gained at Tuck." 

Read More

Sandy Chen Fedor

Fedor enrolled at Tuck with a keen interest in entrepreneurship, and she’s still using what she learned in her courses to this day, from negotiating with stakeholders to using competitive strategy when building a product.

Read More

Pandemic Lessons in Fashion

Fabletics COO Meera Bhatia T’04 on how technology and teamwork helped her address an increase in product demand and supply chain challenges during the pandemic.

Read More

Meet Peloton’s Chief Operating Officer Mariana Garavaglia T’08

At Peloton, Mariana Garavaglia T’08 is putting people, and culture, first.

Read More

How to Build Your Personal Leadership Style

Successful leaders develop their own authentic and personal leadership style, says long-time PetSmart CEO David Lenhardt T’96.

Read More

Lincoln Spoor

Every December, Lincoln Spoor T’84, CEO of Feel Good Brands Corp, delivers a truckload of Popcornopolis popcorn to first-year students during final exams.

Read More

Michaela LeBlanc Weber

Several times a month, Michaela (LeBlanc) Weber T’15 trades in her business suit for a bright orange jumpsuit, hard hat, and steel-toed boots.

Read More

The Guru’s Wisdom

CarGurus founder Langley Steinert T’91 has plenty of good advice for budding entrepreneurs, but nothing is more important than loving what you do. 

Read More

Katrina Veerman

With PK Coffee in Stowe, Vermont, Katrina Veerman T’01 turned a passion into a livelihood.

Read More

Charles F. Preusse II

A partner at Ridgeway Partners, Charles Preusse, II T’95 is a matchmaker of strategic talent.

Read More

Peter Raskind

After guiding National City Corp through the financial crisis, Peter Raskind D’78, T’79 found civic engagement in confronting two of Cleveland's public crises—for the sum total of $2.

Read More

Kristiana Helmick

Kristiana Helmick T’98 has had three very different jobs in the last decade. And all at a single company: Amazon.

Read More

Christoph Böhmer

Christoph Böhmer T’96 is helping lead a 500-strong volunteer effort to resettle Afghan, Iranian, and Syrian refugees in Germany.

Read More

Lauren Krostue

Lauren Krostue T’10 tried working in other industries, but something about the hospitality world kept drawing her back.

Read More

How to Promote Diversity and Nurture Talent

After Tuck, Suzanne Schaefer T’02 went into management consulting, figuring that eventually she might connect with a particular industry—to her surprise, she instead felt a strong pull toward recruiting and talent development.

Read More

Tom Slosberg

Very few people can say that the shoe business is in their blood. Tom Slosberg D’90, T’99 is one of them.

Read More

Steve Voigt

How to breathe new life into one of the country’s oldest companies? During his twenty years at King Arthur Flour Company, former president Steve Voigt T'86 did it by embracing people’s love of something timeless: baking.

Read More

Bill McLaughlin

Bill McLaughlin D'78, T’81 is leading America’s oldest mail-order company into the digital future, while mentoring its next generation of leaders.

Read More

Jayne Hrdlicka

At Tuck, Jayne Hrdlicka T'88 learned to think deeply and challenge convention—skills she drew on as CEO of the Jetstar Group of airlines.

Read More

Shawna Huffman Owen

If you think the Web made travel agents obsolete, Shawna Huffman Owen T’98 has news for you.

Read More

Kathryn Baker

Kathryn Baker T'93 is a true expert on boards of directors. She has served on more than 20 of them over the last 16 years, ranging from oil and gas companies to Norway’s Central Bank to Tuck’s own European Advisory Board.

Read More

Carolyn McGuire

Over twenty years ago, Carolyn McGuire T’83 helped form Community Consulting Teams of Boston. It’s still going strong today—and facilitating a lot of good work.

Read More

Victoria Levy

T'98 Victoria Levy’s post-Tuck career took off with The Monitor Group, an iconic strategic consulting firm where she became a partner by age 33. Now, the firm has been acquired by Deloitte and Levy is guiding the integration of the two practices.

Read More

On Leadership

Bill Achtmeyer T’81 has worked with hundreds of senior executives at Fortune 500 companies and shares five pieces of advice for managing a large organization effectively.

Read More

Tips for Transforming Your Career

After positions of increasing seniority at Morgan Stanley, McKinsey, and JPMorgan, Kate Grussing T’91 decided she wanted to transform her career by helping others transform theirs.

Read More

Amy Feind Reeves

A consultant turned job coach, Amy Reeves T'92, was able to research, model, and project the successful future of her business using the skills she acquired at Tuck.

Read More

Francis Barel

In much of the Middle East and North Africa, cash is still king. PayPal’s Francis Barel T’05 wants to change that, and open people’s lives to the world along the way.

Read More

Carly Rosenberg

Digital marketing was practically in the stone ages when Carly Rosenberg T'05 graduated from Tuck and went to work as a marketing manager at Saks Fifth Avenue.

Read More

Jeff Coleman

T’87 Jeff Coleman’s quest for better nutrition led him to a new, whole-food fuel for athletes and a surprising second act.

Read More

Leslie Hampel

Vice president of store operations, Leslie Hampel T’07 is helping chart a bold future for the coffee retailer.

Read More

Jim Weber

CEO Jim Weber T’86 transformed Brooks Running Company from a dying shoe manufacturer into a premium running brand, and he’s not done yet.

Read More

Joe Santos

Joe Santos D'95, T'00 is the co-founder of the boutique, New York-based distillery Brooklyn Craft Works, and the creator of craft spirit Brooklyn Gin.

Read More

Deepa Prahalad

A new book on design strategy by Deepa Prahalad T'00, daughter of management guru C.K. Prahalad, was rated by Fast Company as one of the 13 best design books of the year.

Read More

Jeff Swartz

Former Timberland CEO Jeff Swartz T’84 won people over—one eco-friendly piece of gear at a time—with a deeply held belief that doing good in the world is also good for the bottom line.

Read More