Gary Henderson has extensive experience as a senior operating officer in the cosmetic, skin care and OTC marketplace. Mr. Henderson possesses a unique combination of operations, product development, sales and marketing skills as demonstrated by his proven ability to profitably build businesses and capture new business opportunities both domestically and internationally through creative problem solving, innovative leadership, consumer understanding and partnering with customers and suppliers. He is an outstanding motivator and builder of high performance organizations.
Mr. Henderson has extensive experience in consumer products acquisition and divestiture. His work in OTC categories has given him a working knowledge of the FDA monographs and processes needed for FDA marketing approval. Coupling this background with solid marketing instincts and knowledge has allowed him to develop and introduce many OTC monograph approved products.
His business experience has been broad based from large multinational companies through small privately held companies, to start-up companies. He has successfully built sales and profitability in each of these environments.
Prior to joining Meredith Mergers Mr. Henderson held the following positions:
OUTSOURCING SERVICES GROUP (OSG)
10/02 – 06/05 – Senior Vice President of Operations – P&L responsibility for all eight (8) operating companies of the OSG Consumer products group. The scope of the responsibilities included over $300MM of sales and 1200 permanent and part time employees.
04/01 – 10/02 – Vice President Operations Kolmar Laboratories (a division of OSG) – P&L responsibility for four (4) manufacturing sites with over $160 MM of sales and 600 employees.
MAKE-UP ART COSMETICS (Estee Lauder)
1/00 – 10/00 – New Business Development Projects
1998 – 1999 – Senior Vice President – Business Operations – Managed the global operations of M·A·C including R&D, Quality Assurance, Manufacturing and Distribution. Operating budget was in excess of $30MM with 250 full time staff supporting 40MM units of production with sales in excess of $200MM.
1995 – 1998 – Executive Director, Product Commercialization – Responsible for the development and implementation of global new business strategies designed to make M.A.C. the “professional make-up” market leader in color cosmetics.
DEL LABORATORIES – Senior V.P, Business Development and Scientific Affairs –
1994- 1995 –Responsible for all scientific affairs of the corporation including product development, plus the assessment of new business opportunities including the development of strategies to redesign business processes and infrastructure to improve performance. The position reported directly to the Chairman with a budget in excess of $5MM and staff of 70.
CHATTEM CONSUMER PRODUCTS
1990 – 1994 President – Consumer Products
1984 – 1990 General Manager – Full P&L responsibility for global business reporting directly to the Chairman. Responsibilities encompassed all division functions including operations, R&D, sales and marketing with revenues in excess of $110MM and 300 full-time employees.
1983 – 1984 Vice President Research & Development – Responsible for R&D and quality assurance functions.
1973 – 1983 AVON PRODUCTS
1979 – 1983 Director New Product Development – Worldwide – Primary technical accountability for all new product and product improvement activity in all business segments. Position managed over 75 scientists and annual new business volume of approximately $300MM.
1977 – 1979 Director of Product Safety
1976 – 1977 Manager Analytical Services
1975 – 1976 Senior Scientist – Applied Research
1973 – 1975 Development Chemist – Applied Research
Mr. Henderson holds a B.A. in Chemistry from Marist College and a PhD in Physical Chemistry from the University of Cincinnati. He also did post-Doctoral work at the University of Utah and has authored several papers and held patents in microencapsulation.
