Forty Under 40

NIKE

“I want to create a new long-term financial model that delivers sustainable profitable growth, more strategically bringing our category offense plan into our major markets,” Campion said.

Outside of work, Campion’s goals are more personal. He wants to teach his three children how to nail a jump shot, and watch them kick soccer balls and play baseball. He wants to carve some turns in fresh powder in the Cascades, and jog some miles alongside his dog, a mutt named Laker.

In other words, he wants to live the life Nike projects for its products.

At Nike, Campion wants to motivate those around him — he indirectly oversees roughly 1,100 employees — to help Nike maintain its foothold atop the competitive pyramid of athletic apparel.

“I don’t use the ‘carrot and stick’ approach. I want to give people a reason for being at the company,” he said. “I believe they want to feel as though the results have exceeded expectations.”

Since he came to Nike in 2007, Campion has held a variety of roles, the last of which was senior vice president of corporate development and strategic planning before being named CFO of Nike Brand last year. He’s always focused on the brand’s strategic financial planning and competitive research.

“My job is to marry up the intuition that our general managers have from their years of experience, with analytics and data, and to then form a plan,” Campion said. “The best ideas don’t always get funded. The best plans do.”