Good morning! Mexico sues Google over the Gulf, an at-home cervical cancer screening is approved, and REI’s new CEO must turn around the outdoors retailer and win back worker trust.
– Trust fall. Mary Beth Laughton, the former CEO of Athleta, became the CEO of the outdoors retailer REI just over a month ago.
At Athleta, Laughton oversaw the brand’s push into women’s sports, signing major deals with athletes like Simone Biles and Allyson Felix. She now takes the reins at REI, a $3.53 billion-in-revenue company struggling to win back the trust and support of its workforce and customers. My colleague Phil Wahba reported last summer on the worries of current and former REI employees (known as Green Vests), many of whom have unionized and voiced concerns that REI was losing sight of its progressive roots, like supporting climate-friendly initiatives and public lands, and instead becoming too corporate. They objected to appointments like those of execs from ExxonMobil and McKinsey to REI’s board. Now, Phil has one of Laughton’s first interviews as REI CEO.
One of the first things Laughton did as CEO was apologize for a choice the brand made in January: endorsing President Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of the interior, Doug Burgum. Since his confirmation, Burgum “has called for extracting natural resources from pristine land in Alaska, building housing on public lands and supporting the coal industry”—choices that are antithetical to what many REI workers and customers believe in. “Let me be clear, signing that letter was a mistake,” Laughton said of the endorsement. “Our public lands are under attack.” REI’s former CEO said the company wanted “a seat at the table” with the new administration.
“One way to show your values is to show action,” Laughton told Phil. Next up is negotiating with employees’ union and, at the same time, recovering from REI’s third straight year of net losses.
The new CEO argues that REI needs both. “We have to make sure we’re making profits in order to continue to live our values and our purpose,” she says.
Read Phil’s full story here.
Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com
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ALSO IN THE HEADLINES
- Happenings on the Hill. President Donald Trump fired Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden last week, who served in the role since 2016 but recently came under attack from conservative groups for being “woke.” Meanwhile, Trump appointed Fox News host Jeanine Pirro as the interim U.S. Attorney for Washington, D.C.
- Name’s sake. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum announced that the country is suing Google for renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America for those in the U.S. visiting Google Maps. Sheinbaum has asked the company to revert the name multiple times this year. BBC
- Health at home. The FDA approved the first at-home alternative to Pap smears for HPV screening last week, paving the way for easier testing for the virus that causes nearly all cases of cervical cancer. The tool is developed by Teal Health, and CEO Kara Egan—previously featured in MPW Daily—says the company is looking to make sure the tool is covered by insurance and discounted for those who are uninsured. New York Times
- Playing field grows. The Women’s World Cup will add 16 new countries for the 2031 tournament in North and Central America, according to The Athletic. That brings the total number of teams to 48, the same as the men’s soccer tournament.
ON MY RADAR
How women have been impacted by Musk-led federal layoffs The 19th
U.S. Customs and Border Protection quietly revokes protections for pregnant women and infants Wired
How Judy Blume’s books became a hot commodity in Hollywood, 50 years later Los Angeles Times
PARTING WORDS
“We bet on women. And we are winning.”
—New York Liberty owner Clara Wu Tsai on aiming for the first $1 billion valuation in women’s sports
