Igloo Products Corporation appointed William (Bill) F. Kerr and Roger Gasaway to its board of directors.
Bill Kerr has more than 25 years of progressive retail merchandising experience at the world's largest retailer, Walmart. He held a variety of positions at Walmart progressing through the store and merchandising ranks, culminating as Vice President and DMM of Sporting Goods, the department where Igloo coolers are merchandised. Bill's expertise in outdoor products and specifically in the cooler category is a strong foundation from which to guide Igloo with retail strategy as well as in determining future growth opportunities for an outdoor company. During his lengthy career, Mr. Kerr led his teams to record sales increases and best practices that generated millions of dollars in savings, including inventory and replenishment controls as well as major import initiatives. Bill's experience and successes are well aligned with Igloo's strategic direction and are already making an impact with key retailer relationships.
“I'm very excited to have this opportunity to join the Igloo family. It is a great honor to be part of an industry leading organization that invented the modern day cooler category. I look forward to working with all of our great associates to continue delivering innovative products, merchandising and solid channel differentiation to our retailers”, said Mr. Kerr. His passion for achieving success in the retail environment and his love for the outdoors makes Bill an ideal and complimentary addition to the Igloo Board of Directors.
Roger Gasaway's appointment rounds out the professional expertise of Igloo's Board of Directors in the areas of manufacturing and supply chain management. Beginning his career at General Electric in 1972, Roger held numerous positions over his 35+ year career which he closed as Vice President of Supply chain for a $12 billion division.
Roger was instrumental in building the vaunted GE culture over the years with teams that revolutionized manufacturing and business practices in industries such as plastics, security systems, nuclear technology, household appliances and aircraft engines among others. With years of experience creating lean cultures at a variety of global businesses, Roger brings to Igloo a player/coach mentality that will help drive and guide the factory metrics through Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma, 5S programs and year – over- year productivity gains.
“I am honored to have the opportunity to be working with a company with such a well-known and respected brand as Igloo. And I look forward to leveraging my operational experience with the Igloo Team to achieve productivity gains and the implementation of growth strategies based on global operational efficiencies,” said Gasaway. Roger will prove invaluable in guiding Igloo's capital-intensive operations as well as global initiatives to support domestic and international growth.
“We are excited to add Roger and Bill to our Team. Their combined experience of 60+ years at Walmart and General Electric will not only bring us tremendous technical knowledge but also practical insights into creating winning programs for our employees, customers and consumers”, said Gary Kiedaisch, Chairman and CEO. “I am both pleased and excited at the addition of these two highly seasoned executives to Igloo's Board. They will be key to accelerating Igloo's growth and future as the #1 cooler company in the world”.
