The Newell Rubbermaid dynasty at O'Sullivan Industries appears to be over.
Crisis management specialist Jim Malone, founding managing partner of Qorval LLC, has been named president and CEO, according to a company news release. Malone replaces Rick Walters who had served as head of the company since illness forced Bob Parker to step down. Both Walters and Parker came to O'Sullivan Industries from Newell Rubbermaid. The following information about Walters was filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in April.
Rick A. Walters, 42, was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of O'Sullivan Industries Holdings, Inc., O'Sullivan Industries, Inc.,
O'Sullivan Industries - Virginia, Inc. and O'Sullivan Furniture Factory Outlet, Inc. on April 19, 2006 and as a Director of each company on April 12, 2006. Previously, he served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of O'Sullivan Holdings, O'Sullivan Industries, O'Sullivan Virginia and O'Sullivan Furniture Factory Outlet, Inc. from his appointment in June 2004. He was named Interim Chief Executive Officer on October 31, 2005. He was also a director of O'Sullivan Furniture Factory Outlet, Inc.
Prior to his appointment at O'Sullivan, he served as Group Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of the Sharpie/Calphalon Group at Newell Rubbermaid from 2001 to 2004. From 1998 through 2001, he was Vice President and Controller of Newell Rubbermaid's Sanford Corporation."
Malone was appointed to the O'Sullivan Board at the same time the company came out of its Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The following information about him was filed April 17 with the SEC:
"Mr. Malone is the founding managing partner of Qorval LLC. Qorval provides restructuring, turnaround, crisis and interim management services to underperforming companies. Prior to founding Qorval, Mr. Malone was a founding partner of Bridge Associates LLC and headed the crisis consulting team for INACom Corporation."
2 comments:
The whole "Newell Rubbermaid reign fiasco" was a terrible joke , they are laughing all the way to the bank and we are all wondering if OSullivan's will survive. I hope there is special place in Hell for people like that!
Beware anyone who thinks that Malone is here to help them! His job is to make the company profitable so that the new owners can sell it. How will he do this? Go back and study Al Dunlap 101 (i.e., Sunbeam). My guess is that Malone will work it just like Dunlap did. The pattern is holding so far. He will cut staff and leave the remaining people so job scared that they work whatever it takes to keep their jobs. Watch Customer Service, for example. The remaining few will not complain and will work 24/7, just grateful to have a job. Within one year, these poor schlepps will be so burned out, some of them will quit just for mental health. Wow, what a genius Malone will be then. It appears that he can get by with even less "overhead". By the time the company sells, the only remaining people will be either incompetent to find a new job or walking dead, so burned out that they need six months in a rubber room to recover. The new buyer, enamored of how wonderfully run the company is will overspend for the business. They will take the reins of a company about to collapse inward like a black hole. All so someone can get the almighty buck! This is your life they are dealing with!
I hope I am wrong, but I would be willing to bet that if anyone were to call some of Malone's former turnaround "successes", they'd tell this sad tale verbatim.
What is left of O'Sullivan will be even smaller, if anything. Too bad no one pushed the Rubbermaid guys to sell anything.
Cap all this off with the fact that China is eating O'Sullivan's lunch and it doesn't look like there will be a great 2007.
Before anyone tells me I am full of stewed prunes, do the due diligence with former turnaround companies and wait for a while to see if the pattern doesn't emerge.
Hang on, because there are a great number of very good people working (still) in the company. I just wish you controlled your own destiny....
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