Stanley Gault

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Stanley C. Gault (1926- ) was Chairman of the Board and CEO of Rubbermaid from 1981-1991. He became CEO and Chairman of The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company from 1991-1996. Since 1985, he has been a director at Avon Products, Inc. A graduate of the College of Wooster, remains as Chairman Emeritus of the Board.

Gault shot to fame in the 1980s, taking the helm of the Rubbermaid company his father helped to found. Gault was instrumental in reorganizing and revitalizing Rubbermaid from a small household gadget company into a streamlined and efficient multinational corporation. He embarked on a dual plan of divestiture and strategic investment that generated a 4-fold increase in revenues and a 6-fold increase in profitability. While he stripped weak product lines and slashed excess cost, he invested in new product development - generating over 100 new items per year.

He was heralded as a business genious in the 1980s for his transformation of Rubbermaid. However, his leadership has since been criticized because Gault's successor was less than adequate and Rubbermaid ended up being bought in 1999 by its competitor Newell.[1]