Ashland Inc. (NYSE: ASH) today announced that Mary Meixelsperger will join its wholly owned subsidiary, Valvoline Inc., as chief financial officer, effective June 20, 2016. She will report to Valvoline Chief Executive Officer Sam Mitchell and will be based at Valvoline’s global headquarters in Lexington, Kentucky.
In this new role, Ms. Meixelsperger will be responsible for Valvoline’s global financial organization, including financial accounting and reporting, treasury and finance, insurance, business development, planning and analysis, investor relations, tax and internal audit activities.
Since May 2014, Ms. Meixelsperger has served as senior vice president and chief financial officer of DSW Inc. (NYSE: DSW), a leading branded footwear and accessories retailer which operates 480 stores in 42 states, as well as dsw.com, a fully managed e-commerce site. Prior to joining DSW, she served as chief financial officer, controller and treasurer at Shopko Stores from 2005 to 2014. Before Shopko, Ms. Meixelspergerwas the chief financial officer for two non-profit organizations from 1993-2004 and served as the chief financial officer for Worldmark Group , a private equity firm, from 1986-1991. She began her career in public accounting at Arthur Young and Co. She earned her bachelor’s degree with distinction from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
“We are delighted to welcome Mary to the Valvoline leadership team,” said Mitchell. “We believe her significant leadership and management experience within the retail industry, coupled with her strategic planning expertise, will be important assets in this new role. We look forward to Mary’s contributions leading our global finance organization.”
Added William Wulfsohn, Ashland chairman and chief executive officer: “Mary is a highly regarded executive with proven success in building and leading a high-performance financial organization. Her hiring reflects another important step forward as we prepare to separate into two independent, publicly traded companies.”
“Valvoline is one of the most recognized and respected premium brands in the global automotive lubricant industry, with a heritage spanning 150 years and a reputation for high- quality products and superior levels of service,” said Ms. Meixelsperger. “This is an exciting time for the organization and I look forward to joining the Valvoline team and working together to build on that success.”
