Newell Rubbermaid Inc. (NWL), the makers of Parker and Waterman pens, Thursday named Michael Polk, a former executive of Uniliver plc, as its new chief executive officer to succeed Mark Ketchum, who had announced his retirement plans early this year.
50-year old Polk, who is already on the board of Newell, will assume responsibilities effective July 18, 2011, the Atlanta, Georgia-based company said in a statement. Polk most recently served as the President of Global Foods, Home and Personal Care at Unilever, where he was responsible for the development, innovation and marketing of Unilever's entire $64 billion portfolio of categories and brands.
"Mike is an outstanding marketer, innovator and leader with a proven record of growing global brands, driving change, and delivering superior financial performance," said Michael Cowhig, Chairman of Newell Rubbermaid's Board. "He is the right leader at the right time to build on Newell Rubbermaid's successful transformation and accelerate our global growth."
Polk stated that he is looking "forward to the challenge of unlocking the full potential of the company."
Prior to joining Unilever, Polk spent 16 years at Kraft Foods and three years at Procter & Gamble.
Ketchum in January announced his intention to retire, after leading Newell Rubbermaid for about five years. Ketchum will remain a director of the company until the next board elections in May 2012.
Newell Rubbermaid designs, manufactures, sources, packages, and distributes consumer and commercial products. It operates in three segments, i.e. Home & Family, Office Products, and Tools, Hardware & Commercial Products.
Newell closed Thursday's trading on the NYSE at $15.35, up 2.33%. The stock further gained 2.28% in after-hours. The trading volume for the day was 7.1 million, above average volume of 3.6 million.
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