Rick Goings

Rick Goings
Born Everett Vernon Goings
October 13, 1945
Wheaton, Illinois
Occupation Chairman & CEO,
Tupperware Brands Corporation
Spouse(s) Susan Porcaro Goings

Rick Goings is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Tupperware Brands Corporation. He served as a petty officer in the US Navy during the Vietnam Era. Following this, he founded the fire detector distributor Dynamics, Inc. After his sale of the company, he worked in various positions with Avon, including President of Avon USA. In 1992 he joined Tupperware Worldwide as the CEO.

Early life

After high school, Goings served in the US Navy as a navigator on the USS Power, a World War II-era destroyer[1] in the Red Sea during the Vietnam War. Goings was a platoon leader out of boot camp, and was honorably discharged from the Navy at the rank of petty officer. He then attended Guilford College in Greensboro, North Carolina, where he majored in history. In his youth Goings also worked in several retail or direct-sales positions.[2]

Dynamics, Inc.

While in his senior year of college,[2] Goings founded one of the first direct sellers of home security systems in the United States; a smoke detector distributorship. He hired fellow students to work in direct-sales for the smoke detectors, creating “fire safety crusaders” in their neighborhoods in order to raise awareness for fire safety (at the time smoke detectors were not common in US homes).[3] Goings dropped out of college to pursue the company full time, split up with his partner, and reformed the company in Charlottesville, Virginia as Dynamics, Inc.[2] Goings began to franchise Dynamics, and within a few years the company had 300 locations across the US. He led the company for fifteen years, until the Federal Government made smoke detectors mandatory and major retailers began carrying them in competition with Goings. He then sold his interest in the company.[3]

Tupperware Brands Corporation

Following the sale of Dynamics, Goings began working with Avon Products, Inc. in 1985, where he held several positions including president of Avon Germany, group vice president & senior operating officer for the Pacific Rim, and president of Avon USA. He joined Tupperware in 1992 as president of Tupperware Worldwide.[4] One of his first actions was to turn the company’s attentions to the overseas market, in order to compensate for the increasing difficulty of direct-sales models in the United States. The two markets Goings focused on most were Latin America and Asia, where “Tupperware home party social-networking” proved to be popular in a way that it once was in the United States during the 1960s. Within four years the company was earning 95% of its revenues from outside the US, with revenues of about $1 billion. This led the company to be spun off from its parent company in 1996, with Goings remaining in the position of CEO.[3]

Boards

Goings is a member of the Tennenbaum Capital Partners Advisory Board.[5] He is a trustee of Rollins College, a member of the World Economic Forum (WEF), a member of the Board of Executive Advisors for the Yale School of Management’s Chief Executive Leadership Institute and a member of the Florida Council of 100. He is a former member of the Board of Directors for SunTrust Bank, N.A., and of the boards of Reynolds American Inc. (formerly RJR), Premark International, Inc. and RR Donnelly.[6] Goings is a founding member of the Private Sector Leadership Advisory Council for UN Women.[7]

Recognition

In 2010, Goings was recognized with the Knight of the Legion of Honor award by Nicolas Sarkozy for his dedication to the role of women and children in developing countries.[8] The People’s Republic of China awarded Goings the Marco Polo Award for his role in China’s economic development[8] and the Boys & Girls Clubs of America awarded him the Herbert Hoover Humanitarian Award, for his work as their national chairman.[8][9] In 2013 Rick Goings was named CEO of the Year by the Holmes Group.[10][11]

Personal life

He resides in Windermere, Florida with his wife, Susan Porcaro Goings. He says he is traveling 70 percent of his time and practices Transcendental Meditation "most afternoons".[12] In September 2014, Goings and his wife were awarded the second annual Voice for Women Award for their work to propel women’s economic empowerment around the world from Sewall-Belmont House and Museum on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C.[13]

References

  1. ↑ Clark, Andrew (February 26, 2010). "The Friday Interview: Tupperware's alpha male lifts the lid on what women want: The plastics firm's ebullient boss still relies on its famous army of female sales reps". The Guardian (London (UK)). p. 29.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 http://books.google.ca/books?id=wXU4gfkIYjQC&pg=PT37&dq=Rick+Goings+Tupperware&hl=en&sa=X&ei=mXhKVJ2xKoqzyAScoIGQDQ&ved=0CEgQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=Rick%20Goings%20Tupperware&f=false
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 http://books.google.ca/books?id=aa2ZAAAAQBAJ&pg=PT225&dq=Rick+Goings+Tupperware&hl=en&sa=X&ei=mXhKVJ2xKoqzyAScoIGQDQ&ved=0CDwQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=Rick%20Goings%20Tupperware&f=false
  4. ↑ Brown, Darrell (2011). "LEADERS Interview with Rick Goings, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Tupperware Brands Corporation". Leaders Magazine (New York (USA)). p. 144.
  5. ↑ http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/person.asp?personId=9663984&privcapId=23295&previousCapId=162270&previousTitle=PFIZER%20INC
  6. ↑ "Tupperware Brands Corporation Chairman and CEO Rick Goings Elected Chairman of Business Executives for National Security". Wall Street Journal. 16 May 2011. Retrieved 8 December 2011.
  7. ↑ http://www.unwomen.org/en/news/stories/2014/6/private-sector-leadership-advisory-council-launched
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 "Tupperware Brands Corporation CEO is Made a Knight in the French Legion of Honor". Reuters. 22 January 2011. Retrieved 5 December 2011.
  9. ↑ "THE POWER OF PEOPLE: Our National Leadership". Boy's & Girl's Club. Retrieved 8 December 2011.
  10. ↑ "Edelman, Ketchum Top List Of Americas SABRE Finalists". The Holmes Report. 8 April 2013. Retrieved 2 May 2013.
  11. ↑ http://www.bizjournals.com/orlando/print-edition/2013/08/23/business-executives-of-the-year-rick.html
  12. ↑ Knight, Rebecca (June 8, 2010). "Business diary: Rick Goings". Financial Times (London (UK)). p. 16.
  13. ↑ http://www.bizjournals.com/orlando/news/2014/09/18/tupperwares-rick-and-susan-goings-receive-voice.html

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