Nick leads the overall business and its core portfolio strategy to ensure the Company delivers on its next phase of growth. Nick’s focus is on broader opportunities to create incremental shareholder value, including deploying capital, investing in consumer-driven innovation to further differentiate the Company’s industry-leading brands, and developing high-performance teams.
Nick served as president and chief operating officer (COO) of the Company from March 2019 until he was promoted to CEO in January 2020. As COO, Nick oversaw the Plumbing, Cabinets, and Doors & Security businesses and focused on identifying opportunities to maximize the Company’s growth potential. He also led the strategic planning process with segment presidents, and partnered with supply chain and operations to explore the continued evolution of supply chains in a dynamic environment.
He served as president, Global Plumbing Group (GPG) from April 2016 until his promotion to COO in March 2019. Under Nick’s leadership, the GPG grew from a single brand, Moen, into Fortune Brands’ highest margin business and acquired Rohl, Riobel, Perrin & Rowe, Victoria + Albert, and Shaws, which it brought together under the House of Rohl.
Nick joined Fortune Brands in June 2015 as senior vice president – global growth and development. In that position, Nick focused on partnering with senior leaders across Fortune Brands to identify, assess and execute opportunities to grow our businesses around the world.
He has more than 20 years of international and consumer brand experience with an expertise in business leadership, mergers and acquisitions, and strategy. Prior to coming to Fortune Brands, Nick worked at Beam Suntory, Inc., where he held several key management positions, including president of Asia Pacific and South America, where he led eight operating units in 45 markets. In that role, Nick led the return of the business to market share growth in its core Australian business, as well as across all other measured markets, while also leading the integration of the Suntory operating units in the region into the legacy Beam business.
Nick first joined Beam Global Spirits & Wine as its associate general counsel in 2006, after having been partner in the corporate practice group at Bell, Boyd and Lloyd.
Nick is a member of Fortune Brands’ Board of Directors. He is also a member of the Board’s Executive Committee.
Nick sits on the Board of Directors for Constellation Brands and is a member of the New York Stock Exchange Advisory Council.
Nick has a Juris Doctor degree from Northwestern University and an undergraduate degree from the Institut d’Etudes des Relations Internationales, in Paris, France.
Patrick oversees the Company’s strong financial management processes and finance leadership team. Patrick leverages his expertise and deep familiarity with the organization – having worked at two of Fortune Brands’ largest segments – to continue the Company’s strong financial execution.
Prior to taking the role of CFO in 2017, Patrick was senior vice president – finance at Fortune Brands.
Before he joined Fortune Brands’ executive team, Patrick served as chief financial officer of the Plumbing segment for three years, where he was responsible for the global finance function. Before joining Moen in 2013, Patrick previously served as vice president of finance at Beam, Inc., and vice president of finance at MasterBrand Cabinets, Inc., Fortune Brands’ Cabinets segment. He also spent over seven years with Booz Allen Hamilton, a global management consulting firm, departing as a principal in the firm’s automotive, aerospace and industrial goods practice.
Patrick received a bachelor’s degree in economics from Northwestern University, and a master’s degree in business administration specializing in finance and accounting, with honors, from the University of Chicago.
Chief Strategy & Growth Officer, Interim Chief Digital Officer
John leads strategic planning, portfolio development and integration initiatives for the Company. He also drives corporate development opportunities and portfolio alignment within the businesses, including category expansion opportunities and adjacencies through joint ventures, partnerships, mergers and acquisitions. John works closely with business leaders to collaborate on major initiatives across the portfolio focused on capturing growth opportunities and sharing key strategic capabilities.
Most recently, John worked in the Company’s Plumbing division as senior vice president – global plumbing growth and development, where he played a significant role in reenergizing the Global Plumbing Group’s core Moen brand, supported consumer relevant innovation, built growth engines in China and digital water and drove M&A and channel partnerships.
John joined Fortune Brands in 2007 as director, strategy and corporate development. Upon the spin-off of FBHS in 2011, John worked for Beam Inc. as vice president, corporate development, and then as head of strategy for the Americas Region for Beam Suntory, Inc. where he led strategic planning, revenue management, and merger integration. Prior to joining Fortune Brands, John worked as a management consultant with Bain & Company across a diverse set of industries.
John holds a bachelor’s degree in finance and marketing from the University of Denver, and an MBA from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Cheri is responsible for the Company’s brand, innovation and channel organization, enabling Fortune Brands to further build and leverage its best-in-class capabilities, as well as to better align and accelerate key growth priorities.
Prior to becoming senior vice president and group president, Cheri had been president of Fortune Brands Water Innovations, formerly the Global Plumbing Group, since March 2019. She was critical in driving the success of the platform as a multi-brand portfolio while delivering exceptional sales growth and margin progression. Cheri also led the evolution of the Water Innovations segment toward an innovative, digitally enabled water technology company. Throughout her time leading Water Innovations, Cheri continued to drive above-market growth across the platform, while building strong, iconic brands and bringing innovation into the market through acquisitions and strategic partnerships. Her brand leadership includes the continued rejuvenation of the Moen brand and solidification of the House of Rohl platform’s luxury category leadership.
Cheri joined Fortune Brands in 2018 as president of the Global Plumbing Group U.S. Businesses, and then as president, Americas. She had responsibility for the business strategy to increase market share and achieve exceptional business results. She oversaw innovation in sales, marketing and product development with a focus on driving profitable growth.
Prior to Fortune Brands, Cheri was at The Sherwin-Williams Company. During her impressive 20-year career there, she ran two of the company’s largest store divisions prior to serving as president, Consumer Brands Group. In this role, she led a $2+ billion global group consisting of 60 marquee and private-label brands sold to more than 5,000 customers in North America, Europe, China, Australia and New Zealand through more than 50,000 outlets. She distinguished herself as a strategic business unit leader with a proven ability to grow market share across an extensive portfolio of brands.
Cheri holds a Bachelor of Arts in management and a master’s degree in business administration from Clemson University.
Ron is responsible for driving operations across Fortune Brands, including strategic sourcing, manufacturing efficiency and capacity, along with distribution, planning and logistics to help unlock the full potential of the Fortune Brands Advantage across the Company. Ron joined Water Innovations (formerly the Global Plumbing Group) in November 2019 as senior vice president of global operations. In that role, Ron was responsible for all aspects of operations within Water Innovations, including manufacturing, distribution, sourcing and supply chain planning. He executed continuous improvement programs and led working capital improvements in the areas of inventory and payables, while supporting the growth of the company through capacity and footprint strategies.
Prior to joining the Company, Ron spent over 30 years at General Electric in both commercial and operations roles. His last role at GE was as vice president of Operations for the Industrial Solutions business, which was divested to ABB in 2018, and where Ron led the operations integration to drive synergies and long-term footprint strategy. Ron’s other experience at GE includes VP of operations for the GE Lighting business, where he led through the transition to LED products by focusing on global footprint rationalization, M&A and aggressive cost out. He also spent time as Chief Procurement Officer for GE Corporate, overseeing over $40B of direct material purchases.
Ron received his MBA from Capital University in Columbus Ohio, and also holds a BS degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh.
