Product Vision & Strategy
Define long-term direction and roadmaps that align executive stakeholders and deliver measurable business outcomes.
Technical Product Management · PMP
Rachel
Wnorowski
Direct Product Strategy with Data-Driven Leadership
Drive global product strategy and innovation through AI-enabled data-driven solutions across Nike's most complex and creative organizations, including Research, Innovation, Digital Product Creation, Sustainability, and Direct to Consumer. Lead cross-functional teams with strong strategic alignment to deliver measurable impact. Communicate with precision to influence decisions at every level, bringing exceptional leadership and disciplined execution to every initiative.
$50M
In science-fueled growth
1.4M
Active products realigned globally
10+
Years leading products at Nike
25%
Annual carbon reduction
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About
I excel at planning, prioritizing, and steering high-profile, complex product portfolios through their full lifecycle: aligning objectives, building the business case, and managing dependencies so the right solution ships.
I define long-term vision and strategy for product creation and sustainability teams, increasingly grounded in AI and ML-enabled platforms, aligning the roadmap with stakeholders so the most important capabilities deliver real business value. As an approachable, curious leader, I build trust and manage global cross-functional teams in an Agile product model. I lead change, communicate clearly, and mentor across the organization.
Over more than a decade at Nike, I've delivered programs alongside engineering teams across Sustainability, Innovation, and the Office of the General Counsel, coordinating architecture, principal engineering, and business partners to land the technical solution that fits.
02
What I do
Delivery Mgmt.
Drive end-to-end delivery: scope, dependencies, iterative deployment, and rigorous testing for optimal results.
Cross-Functional Leadership
Build and inspire global teams across DevOps, engineering, design, and business partners in an Agile model.
Data & Insights
Lead with AI/ML-driven and quantitative insights, user feedback, and substantive goals, to guide decisions.
Product Lifecycle Mgmt.
Shepherd products from prototype to production release, balancing progress over perfection with lasting value.
Superior User Experience
Apply design thinking and consumer obsession to build products users genuinely love.
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Experience
Technical Product and Program Manager, Merchandising
2024 — 2026
Product leadership for Global Line Planning and Sustainability Products, driving digital transformation across core merchandising and finance platforms.
- Developed and launched a framework tracking product creation through sales, enabling end-to-end product decision-making for 1.4 million+ active products across the pipeline and marketplace.
- Realigned product construct within core merchandising and finance platforms (SAP, O9, APIs) through data-driven decision-making, advancing digital transformation.
- Managed modernization of a 15-year-old merchandising platform, integrating data governance requirements into the roadmap while reducing downtime by 75% and accelerating global feature delivery by 50%.
Product Owner, Sustainability and Innovation
2018 — 2024
Led sustainability-focused decision-making for Apparel and Footwear Creation teams, directing Innovation Collaboration and Operational Excellence.
- Launched a scalable, secure sports research data platform with AI/ML-enabled workflows, delivering 3D/4D body scanning and avatar generation capabilities and enabling $50M in science-fueled growth.
- Scaled a 3M-athlete scan data library, generating insights that reduced product returns by 15%.
- Created and operationalized a 5-year sustainability architecture strategy across the consumer creation ecosystem, achieving 25% annual carbon reduction.
- Spearheaded an integrated scenario planning and product impact scoring platform embedded across the creation-to-manufacturing lifecycle, ensuring ESG regulatory compliance.
- Drove a metrics-based productivity transformation, reducing implementation cycle time by 350%.
Project Manager and Business Consultant, Legal Operations
2012 — 2018
Executed an enterprise-wide Email Exchange and Archiving upgrade and deployed global document management and contracting solutions for Nike Legal.
- Managed deployment and migration of two existing repositories, providing enterprise-wide access to over 6 million previously archived items.
- Implemented data retention and eDiscovery solutions, meeting critical compliance, legal, and records management requirements.
- Created a cloud-native contracting solution for enterprise legal document creation and storage, increasing retention and traceability by 200% in the first month post-deployment.
- Forecasted and managed vendor costs, delivering 15% under budget.
Product Manager
Provided technology-enabled solutions for Class Action administration, mass litigation, and government projects.
- Managed 60 individual legal cases across Healthcare, Governmental, Product, and Securities industries, driving resolution from initial notice through payment and tax compliance.
- Directed teams of 3–6, adjusting size to project requirements and traveling to support operational needs.
- Managed infrastructure-level security audits (FISMA, NIST, HIPAA, PCI), resulting in 10 new products.
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How I work
A couple of examples of how I approach ambiguous problems and turn technical capability into real product value.
Building the Business Case for Sustainability Scoring
Creation teams wanted to make more environmentally responsible products, but had no way to see, in the moment, what tradeoffs a design decision created. Before committing resources, I built the business case. I identified what data we'd need for credible scoring, then tested with designers and sustainability leads whether they'd actually act on a score or treat it as another compliance step.
The real unknowns were data accuracy and whether earlier visibility would change real behavior, not just awareness of it. Conversations showed designers were eager to use it, and we had a viable data path, so I made the case to move forward. We built and scaled the platform, contributing to a 25% annual carbon reduction.
Designing for Difference: AI/ML Sizing
The innovation team needed a sizing tool that translated AI/ML body-sizing data into individual recommendations for the end user. The underlying model was built on athlete body-sizing data. We created a product decision layered on top of it: building in metadata-based adjustments, like age range and region, so the tool produced targeted recommendations rather than one global prediction applied to everyone.
Sizing conventions and body-data distributions vary by demographic, so a technically correct model output for one group could be a poor recommendation for another. Getting that layer right meant the difference between a technically accurate model and a genuinely useful product. This work contributed to a 15% reduction in athlete product returns and was part of a platform that enabled $50M in science-fueled growth.
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Credentials
Certifications
- Project Management Professional (PMP)Renewed 2026
- Technology Scrum Master · Scrum Alliance2017
- SAFe Product Owner / Product Manager2017
- Six Sigma Green Belt · GE Corporate
- Project Management Certificate · PSU
Recognition
- Multiple peer & leader "High Five" nominations
- Milestone Award · Legal Compliance Initiative
- Achievement Award · 100% Client Satisfaction
- Legendary Service Award
Education
- B.A. Political ScienceUniversity of Oregon
- B.A. International Studies, Japanese minorUniversity of Oregon
- Study AbroadWaseda University, Tokyo
Let's talk
Looking for a product leader who ships with clarity?
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