Hoboken, N.J., USA - Newell Brands, a consumer goods company, announced a significant refreshment of its board of directors with the appointment of two new independent directors: James R. Craigie and Debra A. Crew.
Article continues below
James R. Craigie is Non-Executive Chairman and the former Chief Executive Officer of Church & Dwight Co., Inc., a developer and marketer of a broad range of household and personal care consumer products and specialty products.
Previously, Mr. Craigie was the President and Chief Executive Officer of Spalding Sports and held various senior management positions with Kraft Foods for 15 years.
Prior to joining Kraft, Mr. Craigie served for six years as an officer with the U.S. Navy/Department of Energy working for Admiral Rickover.
Mr. Craigie is a graduate of the University of Rochester and holds an MBA from Harvard University where he was a Baker Scholar.
He also serves on the Board of Directors of Bloomin’ Brands as Lead Independent Director.
Debra A. Crew is the former Chief Executive Officer of Reynolds American.
Before joining Reynolds, Ms. Crew spent five years at Pepsi, where she served as President, North America Nutrition, as President, PepsiCo Americas Beverages, and as President, Western Europe.
Ms. Crew is a graduate of the University of Denver, earned an MBA from the University of Chicago and previously served as an officer in the U. S. Army.
Ms. Crew serves on the Boards of Stanley, Black & Decker, Inc. and Mondelez International.
Additionally, the Company intends to nominate Judith A. Sprieser to the Board of Directors at the Company’s 2018 Annual Meeting of Shareholders.
Ms. Sprieser served until March 2005 as Chief Executive Officer of Transora, Inc., one of the first business-to-business marketplaces for global consumer packaged goods companies, which she led the development of in 2000.
Previously, Ms. Sprieser was an Executive with Sara Lee Corporation from 1987 to 2000, serving as Chief Executive Officer of Sara Lee's Food Group from 1999 to 2000, Chief Financial Officer of Sara Lee Corporation from 1995 to 1999, and other operating and financial positions prior to that.
Ms. Sprieser earned a Bachelor of Arts degree and an MBA from Northwestern University.
She currently serves as Lead Independent Director of The Allstate Corporation, and as a Director and Audit Committee Chair of InterContinentalExchange, Inc. and Reckitt Benckiser plc where she chaired the Remuneration Committee. ■