Barrie Spelling
Board Advisor
President, Colgate-Palmolive, Global Oral Care (Ret)
Board Member numerous companies
Barrie Spelling is a senior global executive with a distinguished record of consistently improving sales and profits for prominent international consumer products companies. He has held key management roles in the personal care, household products, and food industries. Since the 1980's, Barrie has been at the forefront of business globalization, and has been recognized for achieving record global market share, rapid expansion into the emerging Eastern Europe market, expanding core consumer Brands into new categories and channels, and the formation of new strategic alliances to achieve unprecedented new growth opportunities.
After beginning his career in sales, marketing, and general management with the Unilever/Lever Brothers Company in the UK, Barrie was recruited to join Colgate Palmolive. He advanced steadily through sales and marketing management roles with Colgate UK, Colgate USA, and the company's Riviana Foods and Helena Rubinstein businesses. As President of the Colgate Venture Company, Barrie established nine new companies in retail, direct marketing, and new consumer products categories.
In the early 1990's, as Vice President and General Manager of a newly created Central and Eastern Europe Division, Barrie launched Colgate's business in Russia, Hungary, Czech/Slovak Republics, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, and the CIS Republics. In this role, he established strong relationships with Prime Ministers, Ministries of Industry and Health, Dental hospitals and practitioners, educational institutions and retailers. In five years, he grew the new division from a virtual start-up in extremely underdeveloped commercial environments to a $400 Million business, without ever losing money. Today the division revenue exceeds $600 Million, and delivers profitability at the overall corporate ratios.
Following this major success, Barrie was appointed President and Corporate Officer for Colgate's $3.7 Billion Oral Care business, the company's flagship business sector, and achieved record sales, profit growth, and global market share. With his sharp eye for new growth opportunities, he led the company's successful entry into the chewing gum and emerging whitening markets, including the successful launch of Simply White, projected to exceed $200 Million in revenue in its first year. Barrie also conceived and implemented a global joint venture with a major global food company to distribute portable oral care products through new distribution channels. This venture has the potential to generate significant incremental revenues.
As Chairman of Strategic Renewal, Barrie directed new organization structure and alignment change for Colgate, establishing a foundation for seven years of steady and unprecedented corporate growth in revenue, profits and shareholder value.
Barrie holds diplomas in Economics, Business Management and Accountancy from Westminster College in the UK. He has been a Director of the Direct Marketing Association in the United States, and member of the executive Committee. Today he is Chairman of the Trust of the Institute of Direct and Interactive Marketing in the UK. ; and President Elect of St Luke's Life Works a large Connecticut Agency at the forefront of affordable and supported housing and services for the needy. He is a member of the Supervisory Board of Royal Numico, a Dutch company with leadership positions in Infant and Clinical Nutrition. He is Chairman of Medical Depot, New Jersey, and a Director and minority owner of Talk Marketing, also based in New Jersey.
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