SOUTHFIELD, Mich. – Qualitor Inc. has named Gary Cohen as the company’s new CEO, effective April 27. Cohen most recently served as president and CEO of Timex Group, and before that spent more than 20 years in senior executive positions with several global companies.
Cohen succeeds Richard Snell, who is retiring after serving as Qualitor’s CEO since 2004.
John Morningstar, a managing partner of Wellspring Capital Management, Qualitor’s majority owner, and a board member of Qualitor, said, “We are extremely pleased to have attracted such a high caliber executive as Mr. Cohen to lead Qualitor. Given his extensive marketing experience and his track record of operational excellence, we are confident that Qualitor will have a great future under Mr. Cohen’s leadership.
“Dick Snell has built a legacy of success at Qualitor,” Morningstar added. “He should be very proud of his many accomplishments in building a leading aftermarket supplier to the automotive industry. We wish him a long and productive retirement.”
Cohen said, “It’s an honor to have been selected as the next CEO of Qualitor. The company is well-positioned as a leader in product quality and customer service, with a track record of strong financial performance. I look forward to joining Qualitor’s talented team and working together to build on Qualitor’s past achievements under Dick’s leadership.”
Snell added, “I am grateful to everyone who helped make my time at Qualitor among the most rewarding of my professional career. Six months ago, Qualitor began a new chapter when it was acquired by Wellspring and I am proud of our seamless transition to Wellspring’s ownership. Qualitor has a very exciting future ahead and is in very capable hands with Gary Cohen at the helm.”
Cohen joins Qualitor after serving for three years as the president and CEO of Timex Group, which includes watch brands such as Timex, Guess, Ferragamo, Versace and Nautica. In that capacity, he helped drive financial growth, develop new corporate leadership and significantly expanded market share and revenue. Prior to his tenure at Timex, Cohen was global general manager and vice president of Playtex Products Inc., a business unit of Energizer Holdings Inc., where he drew upon his advanced knowledge of marketing and operations in the integration of Playtex into Energizer’s Personal Care Division.
Over the course of his 32-year career, Cohen has held a series of senior management and marketing positions with other top consumer products companies such as Procter & Gamble and The Gillette Co., where he helped double the size of the Oral-B business over a six-year span. He holds a B.A. in Economics from Brandeis University and a M.B.A. with a specialty in marketing from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University.
