McDonald joins from LVMH's cosmetics retailer Sephora, where he was head of the Americas region, and will start in his new role at Lululemon on Aug. 20.

Lululemon has been looking for a new CEO since February after Potdevin abruptly resigned for falling short of the company's "standards of conduct".

McDonald joins Lululemon as the company, which turned women's yoga wear into mainstream fashion, looks to expand its online presence and offer more men's wear to better compete with the likes of Under Armour Inc and Nike Inc in a cut-throat sportswear market.

(Reporting by Uday Sampath in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)