In 2011, Michael Polk stepped into one of the biggest roles of his career, becoming president and CEO of Newell Rubbermaid. He arrived with a board seat already under his belt, having joined the company’s directors in 2009 while still working at Unilever. The Newell Rubbermaid that Michael Polk inherited was a USA based holding […]
Month: July 2026
Justin Nelson of JP Morgan on What Finance Gets Wrong About Talent
The finance industry has long operated on assumptions about who belongs in its ranks, typically favoring graduates of economics or business programs at brand-name universities. Justin Nelson, who leads the Asset Management and Financial Principals Coverage Team at JP Morgan Private Bank in Connecticut, has spent decades testing those assumptions and finding them wanting. Nelson […]
How Michael Polk Grew Newell Rubbermaid into a Consumer Goods Powerhouse
When Michael Polk became CEO of Newell Rubbermaid in 2011, the company was structured more like a holding company than a cohesive global enterprise. Polk changed that. Over eight years, he guided a transformation that reshaped the portfolio, expanded margins, embraced digital commerce, and grew annual net sales from $5.4 billion to $9.4 billion. The […]