David Heath (2018) - Texas A&M Athletic Hall of Fame - Texas A&M Athletics

David Heath

Induction:
2018
Class:
1976

David A. Heath '76 of Bryan was a National Merit Scholar and graduated cum laude from Texas A&M University in 1976 with a bachelor's degree in Health and Physical Education, and earned a master's degree in the same field in 1979. He was Texas A&M's first full-time assistant athletic trainer and was later named Head Athletic Trainer in 1979 for all men's and women's sports within the university. After spending those years working closely with several of the team's suppliers such as Adidas and Nocona, his knack for developing protective products with those brands led to an offer to shift his career and move into the Sporting Goods industry in 1981. Heath spent eight years with Adidas before joining Nike as a regional apparel sales manager in Dallas in 1990. He directed Nike's U.S. territory sales, managed the U.S. equipment division and directed commerce in the Americas region before he became Vice President for U.S. Sales in 2004 where he led the wholesale business of Nike branded footwear, apparel and equipment sales. In February 2007, Heath was promoted to Vice President for Global Sales where he was responsible for over $16 billion in sales revenue in the four global operating regions. Prior to his retirement in 2009, Heath managed global HR planning for the entire sales organization, as well as designed and implemented all go-to-market strategies to interface with wholesale customers with his primary day-to-day focus being on the United States, United Kingdom, Japan, China, India, Russia and Brazil. Retired from Nike, Inc. in 2009, former teammates from his almost 20 year career at Nike encouraged him to come back to the industry and help spur the rapid growth at Under Armour where he served as SVP of Sales based in Baltimore, Maryland until his recent retirement. A community volunteer, Heath has served as Chairman of the Board of The Association of Former Students, President of the Texas A&M Lettermen's Association, and as a board member of Hawk Apparel, Inc., Hillerich & Bradsby, Broder Brothers, Inc and Luke's Locker LLC. He is currently a member of the Board of Directors for Nutrabolt, and volunteers with Startup Aggieland in the Mays School. A third generation Aggie, David followed in the footsteps of his father, James A. Heath '40 and two great uncles who graduated in the 1920s. He and his wife, Andrea, have two sons, Joel '05 and Todd '07, and daughter in law Shalane '12.