Newell Rubbermaid appoints VP of global innovation

Newell Rubbermaid has appointed Nate Young to the newly created position of VP of global innovation, where he will be responsible for energizing the company's innovation funnel.

Most recently, Young was president of the NewNorth Center for Design in Business, a nonprofit, hybrid education and business institution based in Holland, Mich. Previously, Young was EVP and chief academic officer at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, Calif., working with leading innovation-driven companies like Disney, Nike and NTT DoCoMo. Young is also the founder of TWISThink, a Michigan-based product design and development firm.

"Nate has already been intimately involved with Newell Rubbermaid, having led a successful series of innovation workshops for our business segments that generated hundreds of promising ideas," said Chuck Jones, Newell Rubbermaid's chief design and R&D officer. "His familiarity with our growth game plan and unique, diverse and rich experience across the corporate, consulting and education sectors make him the ideal candidate to lead our innovation efforts."

Young will work closely with Newell Rubbermaid's marketing and design/R&D organizations globally to advance ideation and help shape the company's organic innovation platform across all segments and businesses. He will also develop the company's open innovation strategy, which involves building a network of inventor, university and corporate innovation communities.

Young will report to Jones and will be based in the company's new state-of-the-art design center which is under construction in Kalamazoo, Mich.

Newell Rubbermaid is a global marketer of consumer and commercial products with 2012 sales of approximately $5.6 billion and a portfolio of brands that includes Sharpie, Paper Mate, Rubbermaid Commercial Products, Irwin, Lenox, Parker, Waterman, Rubbermaid, Levolor, Calphalon, Goody, Graco, Aprica and Dymo.