Mark D. Ketchum President & Chief Executive Officer
With over three decades of experience in operations, marketing, brand management and general management, Mark Ketchum has grown and transformed businesses by leveraging consumer insight and strong leadership.
Ketchum was appointed Newell Rubbermaid's president and chief executive officer in October 2005 and has been a director of the company since December 2004. He is also a director of Kraft Foods Inc.
Ketchum's vision for a "new Newell Rubbermaid" is to become a global company of Brands That Matter™ and great people, known for best-in-class results. Under his leadership, the company is:
Investing in consumer-driven branding
Leveraging one global company to drive innovation and achieve scale efficiencies
Strengthening its financials with top-line, bottom-line and gross margin increases
Expanding its global footprint
Previously, in a 33-year career at Procter & Gamble, Ketchum built several of that company's largest global brands, including Pampers, Bounty and Charmin. He was president of Global Baby and Family Care from 1999 to 2004, president of North American Paper Products from 1997 to 1999 and vice president/general manager of U.S. Tissue and Towels from 1990 to 1997. His early career was spent in various operational roles in the company's paper division from 1971 to 1984 before he transitioned into brand management and marketing.
Hartley Blaha President, Corporate Development
Buddy Blaha joined Newell Rubbermaid in October 2003, bringing with him a long history of global mergers and acquisitions experience. Under his leadership, the company has significantly transformed its portfolio while building an exceptional organizational capability to source, evaluate, execute and integrate potential transactions that augment the company's strategic objectives. Prior to assuming his current role, Buddy spent 16 years at Lehman Brothers in both New York and London and was most recently managing director, Mergers & Acquisitions.
He holds a degree in commerce from the University of Virginia.
Paul G. Boitmann President, Sales Operations and Global Wal-Mart
Paul joined Newell Rubbermaid in 2001 as President of the The Home Depot Division, bringing more than 18 years of sales, marketing, worldwide recruiting and sales training experience to the company. In this role, Paul assembled and led a field sales and management team which averaged double-digit annual sales growth for four consecutive years. In January 2005, Paul was promoted to President, Rubbermaid/Irwin North America Sales Operations. In this expanded role, Paul was responsible for sales management across Newell Rubbermaid's key account, consumer and industrial sales channels. He is credited with implementing operations and sales processes disciplines which have led to significant sales, profitability gains and sales synergies across the organization.
Paul earned his BBA from the University of Texas in 1982.
William A. Burke III Group President, Tools & Hardware
Bill Burke joined Newell Rubbermaid in 2003 as the president of Lenox. Under his leadership, the brand averaged double-digit sales growth and became a significant platform for international expansion through strong branding, innovation, end-user conversion and channel penetration. Prior to Newell Rubbermaid, Bill served as vice president/general manager of the Product Service Division and global vice president of marketing at Black & Decker.
Bill received his Master of Business Administration and his bachelor's from Loyola College.
Jay D. Gould Group President, Home & Family
Jay Gould joined Newell Rubbermaid in May 2006 as president of Graco, bringing more than 20 years of brand management and general management experience. At Newell Rubbermaid, Jay has built significant organizational capability and delivered strong sales and income growth for the company's global baby and parenting products business. Prior to Newell Rubbermaid, Jay held senior marketing and general management roles at The Campbell Soup Co., The Coca-Cola Co. and General Mills Inc.
Jay is a graduate of the Harvard Business School and the University of Dayton.
Raymond J. Johnson President, Global Manufacturing and Supply Chain
Ray Johnson joined Newell Rubbermaid in 2002 and has held various senior operations and management positions within the Rubbermaid / Irwin group and the global Office Products group. In 2005, Ray became president global manufacturing and supply chain where he oversees the continued global implementation of the company's productivity program, Newell Operational Excellence. He is also responsible for manufacturing, purchasing as well as distribution and transportation.
Ray brings more than 25 years of operational experience including Six Sigma, Lean Manufacturing and Total Quality Management. Prior to joining Newell Rubbermaid, Johnson held executive and operational positions at Eaton Corporation, True Temper Sports, Bic Pen Corporation and Black & Decker.
He holds a BA degree in Chemistry from the University of North Carolina.
Dale L. Matschullat Senior Vice President, General Counsel & Corporate Secretary
Dale Matschullat joined Newell Rubbermaid in 1989 as Vice President-General Counsel and added the Corporate Secretary role in 2003. He has also served the company as Vice President-Finance. Before coming to Newell Rubbermaid, Dale was Vice President and General Counsel for Allis-Chalmers Corporation.
Dale earned his undergraduate and law degrees from Stanford University.
Magnus R. Nicolin President, Newell Rubbermaid Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA)
Magnus joined Newell Rubbermaid in May 2006. Of Swedish nationality, Magnus has held several positions in France, UK, Canada and the US.
Previously he was President & CEO of Esselte Office products the $1.2B leader in office supplies worldwide. Magnus became CEO after he led the buy-out of Esselte from the Stockholm and London stock-exchanges in June 2002 for $550Million. He then lead the transformation of the company including rationalizing the brand portfolio, shifting manufacturing to achieve best cost position, improving working capital turns twofold and accelerating growth.
In Dec 2005 he sold the fast growing DYMO Division to Newell for $730Million reshaped the remaining office supplies portfolio, repaid all LBO debt and provided a dividend to the private equity sponsor J.W. Childs, shortly thereafter he left Esselte.
During his 25 years he has in addition held global leadership roles with Pitney Bowes, Bayer AG and McKinsey & Co.
Magnus has a BA from the Stockholm School of Economics and an MBA from the Wharton School University of Pennsylvania
James J. Roberts Executive Group President, Office Products and Cleaning, Organization & Decor
Jim Roberts joined the company in April 2001 as group president of the Levolor Hardware Group and was instrumental in the development of Newell Rubbermaid's Operational Excellence program, which drives productivity and operational best practices throughout the organization. In 2003, Jim became responsible for Newell Rubbermaid's Tools & Hardware and Cleaning, Organization & Decor segments. In this role, he led both groups to significantly improved sales and operating income through operational excellence, supply chain restructuring, innovation and global branding. Prior to Newell Rubbermaid, Jim served in a variety of positions with Black & Decker, including president of Worldwide Accessories and vice president/general manager of Professional Power Tools Europe. He also served as president of Worldwide Hand Tools and Hardware at The Stanley Works.
Jim received his bachelor's from the University of Delaware in 1981.
J. Patrick Robinson Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer
Pat Robinson joined Newell Rubbermaid in May 2001 as Vice President-Controller, bringing with him more than 20 years of financial experience. Prior to Newell Rubbermaid, Pat joined Black & Decker beginning in 1983 as a Budget Analyst-US Power Tools Division. He moved quickly through increasing levels of responsibility until his appointment as Vice President of Finance, Worldwide Power Tools for Black & Decker. In 2000, he was appointed Chief Financial Officer of AirClic.
Pat earned his MBA in finance from Loyola College in 1992.
Eduardo Senf President, Latin America
Juan Eduardo Senf joined Newell Rubbermaid in January 2004 as the president of Rubbermaid/IRWIN Latin America and the Caribbean. In this role, Eduardo led our Latin American businesses to achieve double-digit income growth and increased our brands' regional platform through aggressive branding campaigns and channel marketing. Prior to Newell Rubbermaid, Eduardo was president of the South American region at Master Foods.
Eduardo has bachelor's degrees in mechanical engineering and production engineering from FEI Sao Paulo, Brazil. He completed his post graduate studies in finance and business at the University of Anahuac-Mexico.
Gordon Steele Senior Vice President Program Management Office and Chief Information Officer
Gordon Steele joined Newell Rubbermaid in August 2005 as vice president and Chief Information Officer, bringing more than 16 years of senior management experience in information technology. Most recently, he was vice president and CIO for Global Information Technology at Nike, where he led the successful implementation of SAP on a global basis. Gordon has also served in leadership capacities with Mentor Graphics Corporation, Warwick Financial Systems, US Bancorp, and Fred Meyer Savings & Loan. Gordon is responsible for leading and managing all Global Information Technology strategies and activities for Newell Rubbermaid, with an emphasis on overseeing a smooth transition from legacy systems to SAP.
Gordon earned his bachelor's degree from Western Oregon University/Oregon State University.
James M. Sweet Executive Vice President, Human Resources & Corporate Communications
Jim Sweet joined Newell Rubbermaid in January 2004 as Group Vice President-Human Resources for the Sharpie/Calphalon Group, bringing more than 20 years of human resource experience with diverse global companies. He was President and co-founder of Capital H, Inc., a human resource services company with operations in three states. Prior to that he held top-level human resource posts with the Kohler Co., Keystone International and the Brady Corporation. He is a veteran of the U.S. Navy Nuclear Submarine Service, and also taught at the Wisconsin School of Electronics.
Jim holds a BA degree in marketing and management from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Ted Woehrle Senior Vice President, Marketing and Brand Management
Ted Woehrle joined Newell Rubbermaid in 2007 to lead transformational change in consumer understanding, marketing and branding at Newell Rubbermaid. Previously, he held several pivotal marketing and general management leadership positions in a 24-year career at Procter & Gamble. Most recently, he was vice president of marketing for North America, where he led the communication planning, media buying and direct marketing efforts for P&G's $32 billion portfolio of North American brands, including Tide, Crest, Pantene, Pampers and Gillette. In 2005, Woehrle was a key leader on the P&G team named "Marketer of the Year" by Advertising Age magazine and "Media Client of the Year" by Media magazine. In a previous assignment, Woehrle led the development and expansion of P&G's innovative word-of-mouth marketing group, Tremor. His early career with P&G included several brand manager, marketing director and general manager assignments in the Food & Beverage and Family Care business groups. Woehrle also served the marketing community outside the company on the board of directors of the Ad Council and as a committee chair for the Association of National Advertisers.