Hands-free footwear brand Kizik has appointed Gareth Hosford, a former executive of Nike, as its new CEO, effective immediately.

During a 12-year tenure at Nike, Hosford worked as CSO in a product category expansion and later became the director of global clubs and federations, managing over $100 million in licensing and retail revenue.

His last position was GM of Nike football in the UK and Ireland, where he helped the brand achieve double-digit revenue growth.

He also held roles at Converse and apparel start-up Omorpho prior to joining Nike.

“His exceptional track record of building iconic global brands, coupled with a start-up mindset and relentless focus on innovation, makes him the right leader to help guide us through our next phase of growth,” said Mike Pratt, founder of Kizik and HandsFree Labs.

As part of the transition, former Kizik’s CEO, Monte Deere, will remain on the board of HandsFree Labs as a licensing advisor regarding partnerships with footwear brands, including Nike.

“We’ve seen that consumers around the world are asking for hands-free footwear, and we can’t build our Kizik brand fast enough to meet all that global demand, so we’re making our technology available to partners like Nike and other best-in-class footwear companies,” said Deere.