The Valspar Corporation has appointed Les H. Ireland as the company's new executive vice president and president of its global Consumer Paint businesses. He will be based in Chicago and report to Valspar chairman and CEO Gary Hendrickson. Ireland succeeds Howard C. Heckes who has been promoted to executive vice president and president of Valspar’s global Coatings businesses.
Ireland brings more than 25 years of global branded consumer products experience to his new role with Valspar. He had a long and successful career with Black & Decker Corporation where he was most recently president of North America for the Worldwide Power Tools and Accessories Group, which included such brands as Black & Decker, DeWalt, Porter Cable and Delta. Ireland joined Black & Decker in 1986 and progressed rapidly through sales, marketing and service operations roles into commercial leadership and general management. He was elected an officer of Black & Decker Corporation in 2001 and spent seven years in Europe, where he led commercial operations for the Consumer and Professional Tool and Accessories business and was promoted to President, Europe, Middle East and Africa.
