Description:
When Ravi Saligram joined Newell Brands in 2019 as President & CEO, the company was experiencing poor performance, low employee engagement and excessive complexity. In 2020, Ravi and the world-class leadership team he’d built were also faced with leading through the unexpected and monumental issues presented by COVID.
Despite these challenges, employee engagement scores increased significantly, and the company’s turnaround efforts persisted.
While Ravi announced his May retirement earlier this year, there’s no doubt the company has strengthened during his tenure. Complexity and overhead costs have been reduced; Project Ovid, a multi-year initiative consolidating 23 unique supply chains into one, was successfully implemented; a new innovation operating model was introduced, and innovations were launched that leveraged COVID trends; automation has been scaled and the company has best-in-class productivity and safety records. Notably, Newell Brands was named one of Fortune’s Most Admired Companies in 2022 and 2023, a recognition it had not previously received.
Ravi is a three-time public CEO, also having led OfficeMax, Inc. and Ritchie Brothers. Despite arriving in the United States with less than $20 in his pocket, he earned an MBA from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and has lived in six countries and worked in many more during his nearly 40-year career, which began at Leo Burnett in Chicago.
During this [webinar/course/event], Ravi will speak with Global Atlanta Managing Editor Trevor Williams and share:
Key takeaways:
• The importance of a people-first approach and how to drive a culture of engagement.
• How companies can foster diversity, inclusion and belonging and be a force for good.
• The necessity of cross-cultural competency and how international experience shapes perspective.
Monday April 3rd, 2023
11:00 - 12:00 PM EST
Speaker:
Rabi Saligram
CEO and a member of the Board of Directors of Newell Brands
Ravi is a visionary leader with a proven track record of growing businesses, building brands, developing customer-centric teams, embracing digital, focusing on cash flow, and driving shareholder value. Throughout his career, he has inspired employees to challenge the status quo, created cultures driven toward innovation and built industry-leading diversity and inclusion programs.
Prior to joining Newell Brands, Mr. Saligram was Chief Executive Officer and Director of Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers Incorporated, the world’s largest onsite/online industrial equipment auctioneer. He is responsible for transforming the six-decade-old organization into a relationship-based, technology-enabled and data-driven multi-channel asset management and disposition platform.
Prior to joining Ritchie Bros., Mr. Saligram was Chief Executive Officer, President, and a member of the Board of Directors of OfficeMax Inc., where he strategically repositioned the company from a commodity office products retailer to an omnichannel workplace services and solutions company and oversaw the historic 2013 merger of OfficeMax and Office Depot CEO of OfficeMax Inc.
Ravi also has more than 20 years of senior management experience at ARAMARK, InterContinental Hotels Group and SC Johnson. During his time as President, ARAMARK International and Chief Globalization Officer, he turned the international business into a growth engine, doubling international revenue and quadrupling managed cash flow, in part, by driving sector diversification, onboarding a new generation of country presidents and significantly increasing female leadership.
Ravi has lived in six countries and worked in many more during his nearly 40-year career, which began at Leo Burnett in Chicago. Ravi earned an MBA from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and an electrical engineering degree from Bangalore University, India. For 13 years, Ravi has served on the board of Church & Dwight Co., Inc. He chairs the Governance committee and is a member of the Finance committee. Ravi is a member of Business Roundtable, an association of chief executive officers of America’s leading companies working to promote a thriving U.S. economy and expanded opportunity for all Americans. He also serves on the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors of the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce and on the Governing Board of the Woodruff Arts Center in Atlanta, GA.
Under his leadership, Ritchie Bros was recognized as one of British Columbia’s Top Employers in 2018. He was named CEO of the Year by Business in Vancouver, as well as 2018 Executive of the Year by Best in Biz. Ravi was named to Atlanta Business Chronicle's "Most Admired CEOs" list for 2021.
Moderator
Trevor Williams
Global Atlanta
A versatile digital journalist, Trevor Williams has spent more than a decade writing on international business and trade for Global Atlanta, an online news service covering Atlanta’s intersection with the global economy. He has undertaken journalism trips to 30+ countries on five continents, uncovering stories that reveal both the perils and promise of globalization and its ramifications for his home state.
Trevor focuses intently on Asia and also has written extensively on foreign direct investment, trade and exports, Georgia’s ties with China, and Atlanta’s emergence as a payments hub, among other topics.
Trevor graduated from the University of Georgia with dual bachelor’s degrees in Magazine Journalism and Religion, as well as a minor in Chinese Language and Literature.
He is a proud husband and father of two young sons, as well as the editor of the book "Making Men: Five Steps to Growing Up.”
Twitter: @jtrevorwilliams; @GlobalAtlanta
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jtkwilliams/