US' Kimberly-Clark names new chief research & development officer

Kimberly-Clark has announced that Craig Slavtcheff has been appointed the new chief research and development officer, effective July 29. Slavtcheff will succeed Robert Long, who is retiring from the company after 45 years in the CPG industry, including the last three years at Kimberly-Clark.

Slavtcheff is a seasoned executive with more than 30 years of R&D experience in the CPG industry. He most recently served as executive vice president, chief R&D and innovation officer of Campbell Soup Company, where he led the R&D function, including strategy, product development, and corporate science and technology. Since joining Campbell in 2012, he transformed the R&D and Innovation organisation, introduced new methodologies – from agile design to AI and machine learning – and gathered insights to enhance relevance and time to market for innovation pipelines. Prior to that, he held senior roles at The Sun Products Corporation and Unilever.

Slavtcheff has been named as an inventor on more than 70 US and global patents, covering a wide range of product categories that generated growth platforms for leading bands.

"Slavtcheff brings an incredible combination of science-backed expertise and tech-forward innovation to Kimberly-Clark, and we are delighted to welcome him to the team," said chairman and CEO Mike Hsu. "Throughout his career, Slavtcheff has established a track record of driving innovation with business impact and creating superior products through deep consumer insights. We will benefit from his wealth of experience as we continue to leverage science as our competitive advantage and increase our focus and investment in category-shaping technology to make consumers' daily lives better."

"I want to thank Robert for his tremendous contributions to Kimberly-Clark since joining our team in 2021. He played a key role in helping to establish innovation as a value-driver for our business, building a long-term pipeline of disruptive innovations rooted in advantaged technology. His leadership has been instrumental in establishing our strong foundation in material invention and product engineering, which will support our growth for years to come,” continued Hsu.

"Kimberly-Clark has an impressive innovation track record, having played a critical role in inventing many of the categories it operates in today," said Slavtcheff. "With innovation as a pillar of the company's strategy, it's an exciting time to join Mike and the rest of the talented executive team to build on the company's momentum of accelerating pioneering innovation for Kimberly-Clark's next chapter of growth."

Slavtcheff will lead an R&D team of scientists focusing on proprietary, right to win spaces that build differentiated consumer preference and durable brand equity. This will enable Kimberly-Clark to further elevate and expand its categories by providing invaluable benefits to its consumers:  greater absorbency, more comfort, to better skin health and sustainable solutions.

"It has been a privilege to be a part of a company with such a strong history of category-defining innovation," said Long. "I'm grateful to have had the strong partnership of our executive leadership team and organisations across the enterprise to elevate innovation in our efforts to better serve consumers and customers. I'm confident Craig's leadership will take innovation to the next level, and I look forward to more great things ahead for Kimberly-Clark."