By Khadeeja Safdar

Nike Inc. said it is replacing its chief diversity officer, adding a Black woman to its leadership team at a time that the sneaker giant and other brands are promising to improve diversity and speaking out on social issues.

Kellie Leonard, the company's chief diversity and inclusion officer, is leaving to pursue other interests, according to a Nike spokesman. Nike said Felicia Mayo, a former diversity chief at Tesla Inc. who joined Nike last year, will lead a newly formed team as chief talent, diversity and culture officer.

Under pressure to address racial divisions and inequities within their organizations, U.S. companies are rushing to hire chief diversity officers or elevate existing leaders to the position. The role has long been marked by high turnover, according to current and former diversity chiefs. Ms. Leonard's exit was earlier reported by the Financial Times.

Ms. Leonard, an 18-year Nike veteran, was appointed to the diversity and inclusion job in April 2018 after a series of executive exits in the wake of complaints about the company's workplace culture. She reported to Nike's human-resources chief, who at the time said Nike had failed to promote enough women and minorities.

Ms. Mayo was an HR executive in Silicon Valley for 16 years before spending two years at Tesla, according to her LinkedIn profile. Other people of color on Nike's leadership team are its strategy chief and the heads of the Jordan and Converse brands. Nike has said that Black vice presidents represented 9.9% of its U.S. total in 2019, and 21% of VPs are from underrepresented groups.

Nike has been restructuring its leadership team since John Donahoe took over as CEO earlier this year.

In February, Mr. Donahoe said the company's consumer president and its chief operating officer were leaving, and last week he named three Nike veterans to run consumer segments as part of a reorganization that will eliminate an unspecified number of jobs. The company said it expected to book termination costs of $200 million to $250 million.

In 2018, Nike launched an ad campaign that featured NFL quarterback turned activist Colin Kaepernick, whose "take a knee" protest against police brutality and inequality ignited a nationwide debate.

In response to the killing of George Floyd, Nike pledged to invest $40 million over four years to support organizations focused on social justice, education and racial inequality in the U.S. In addition, Michael Jordan and Nike subsidiary Jordan Brand said they would donate $100 million over the next 10 years to those causes.

Write to Khadeeja Safdar at khadeeja.safdar@wsj.com