John Joseph Donahoe II (born April 30, 1960) is an American businessman who was the CEO of Nike from January 2020 to October 2024. Early in his career, he worked for

Bain & Company Bain & Company is an American management consulting company headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. The firm provides advice to public, private, and nonprofit organizations. One of the Big Three (management consultancies), Big Three management co ...

, becoming the firm's president and CEO in 1999. He is on the board of directors at Nike, The Bridgespan Group and is chairman of

PayPal PayPal Holdings, Inc. is an American multinational financial technology company operating an online payments system in the majority of countries that support E-commerce payment system, online money transfers; it serves as an electronic alter ...

. Donahoe was named president and CEO of

ServiceNow ServiceNow, Inc. is an American software company based in Santa Clara, California, that supplies a cloud computing platform for the creation and management of automated business workflows. It is used predominantly for the automation of informati ...

, a cloud company, in February 2017. He was on the

Board of Trustees of Dartmouth College The Board of Trustees of Dartmouth College is the governing body of Dartmouth College, an Ivy League university located in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. , the Board includes twenty-three people. The current Chair of the Board is Stephen M ...

from 2003 to 2012.

Early life and education

John Donahoe was born in Evanston, Illinois on April 30, 1960. His father was an accountant at

Price Waterhouse PricewaterhouseCoopers, also known as PwC, is a multinational professional services network based in London, United Kingdom. It is the second-largest professional services network in the world and is one of the Big Four accounting firms, along ...

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. In 1978, he graduated from

New Trier High School New Trier High School (, also known as New Trier Township High School or NTHS) is a public four-year high school whose main campus for sophomores through seniors is in Winnetka, Illinois, United States, with a campus in Northfield, Illinois, for ...

in Winnetka, Illinois. He earned a bachelor's degree in economics from

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College ( ) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, Dartmouth is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the America ...

, where he was a brother of Chi Gamma Epsilon fraternity (formerly Kappa Sigma), followed by an MBA from

Stanford Graduate School of Business The Stanford Graduate School of Business is the Postgraduate education, graduate business school of Stanford University, a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California. For several years it has been the most selective ...

. Donahoe is of Irish descent.

Career

After Donahoe's senior year of high school, a friend's father asked him to work at his Schlitz beer distribution company. "You'll make good money," he said. It was a union job and the first requirement was that he join the

International Brotherhood of Teamsters The International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) is a labor union in the United States and Canada. Formed in 1903 by the merger of the Team Drivers International Union and the Teamsters National Union, the union now represents a diverse members ...

. Before joining eBay, Donahoe worked for

(a global consulting firm based in Boston) for 20 years, starting as an associate consultant and rising to become the firm's president and CEO in 1999. In March 2005, Donahoe was hired as president of

eBay eBay Inc. ( , often stylized as ebay) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that allows users to buy or view items via retail sales through online marketplaces and websites in 190 markets worldwide. ...

Marketplaces. His role was to focus on eBay's core business, which accounts for a large percentage of the company's revenues. In 2008, Donahoe was appointed CEO of eBay. He made more than 40 acquisitions, including Shopping.com and

StubHub StubHub is an American ticket exchange and resale company. It provides services for buyers and sellers of tickets for sports, concerts, theater, and other live entertainment events. By 2015, it was the world's largest ticket marketplace. While ...

, and the classifieds sites

Gumtree Gumtree.com, known as Gumtree, is a British-based online classified advertisement and community website based at Hotham House, in Richmond, London. Classified ads are either free or paid for depending on the product category and the geograph ...

and LoQUo, and most recently, Shutl. After Donahoe's departure from eBay in 2015, he was replaced by eBay Marketplaces president Devin Wenig. In February 2017, Donahoe was announced as the president and CEO of

, a software company that he became familiar with while working at eBay. Donahoe was on the

from 2003 to 2012. In October 2019, he was announced as the next CEO of Nike, and succeeded

Mark Parker Mark Parker (born October 21, 1955) is an American businessman. He is the executive chairman of Nike, Inc. He was named the third CEO of the company in 2006 and was president and CEO until January 13, 2020. From 2023 to 2025, he was the chairman ...

on January 13, 2020. Despite tumbling stock prices, with record losses, in 2024, Donahoe made the decision to cut 15% of all Nike employees in Oregon, all while his salary and bonuses remained in the top 0.1% of the top 1% of all CEOs in the United States. Donahoe was chairman of

The Business Council The Business Council is a nonpartisan organization of business leaders headquartered in Washington, D.C.Elliott Hill. Donahoe's last day as CEO was October 12, but continued as an advisor until January 2025.

Compensation

In 2023, Donahoe received total compensation from Nike of $32.8 million.

Political donations

Donahoe has donated to Democrats and Republicans. He contributed to Republican Congressman David Dreier of California, as well as two Democratic Senate candidates,

Kirsten Gillibrand Kirsten Elizabeth Gillibrand (; ; born December 9, 1966) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, junior United States Senate, United States senator from New York (state), New York since 2009 ...

of New York and

Barbara Boxer Barbara Sue Boxer (née Levy; born November 11, 1940) is a retired American politician, lobbyist, and former reporter who served in the United States Senate, representing California from 1993 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United St ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

Personal life

He is married to Eileen Donahoe (née Chamberlain), former U.S. Ambassador to the

United Nations Human Rights Council The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) is a United Nations body whose mission is to promote and protect human rights around the world. The Council has 47 members elected for staggered three-year terms on a United Nations Regional Gro ...

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

, Switzerland.Dartmouth News' announcement of Dr. Donahoe's appointment of U.S. Ambassador to UNHR
", ''The Dartmouth'', 13 November 2009. They have four children; three sons and a daughter, and live in

Portola Valley, California Portola Valley is an incorporated List of municipalities in California, town in San Mateo County, California, United States. Located on the San Francisco Peninsula in the San Francisco Bay Area, Bay Area, Portola Valley is a small, wealthy com ...

References

External links

Biography at eBay's corporate siteJohn J. Donahoe Forbes Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Donahoe, John 1960 births American chairpersons of corporations American technology chief executives Businesspeople in online retailing Dartmouth College alumni EBay employees Living people Stanford Graduate School of Business alumni Bain & Company employees Businesspeople from Evanston, Illinois People from Portola Valley, California PayPal people Nike, Inc. people New Trier High School alumni