Fortune Brands Names Christopher Klein President & CEO of Home Products Unit

Fortune Brands, Inc. (NYSE: FO) today announced the appointment of Christopher J. Klein as president and chief executive officer of its home products business, Fortune Brands Home & Security, effective January 1, 2010. Klein, 46, currently president and chief operating officer of the home products unit, will succeed Rich Forbes, 62, who previously announced his plans to retire at the end of 2009.

 The home products business includes Moen faucets, the brands of MasterBrand Cabinets, Therma-Tru entry door systems, Simonton windows, Waterloo storage and organization products and Master Lock security products.

“I’m very pleased that Chris Klein will be the next leader of our home products business,” said Bruce Carbonari, chairman and chief executive officer of Fortune Brands. “For the better part of the past year, Chris has been instrumental in helping our Home business achieve its primary goals – outperform the market, realign supply chains, and position the business to capitalize when market conditions improve. Chris is a skilled leader who will hit the ground running. I also want to congratulate Rich Forbes on his extraordinary career in our Home business. For more than 20 years, Rich has been instrumental in the growth of our home products segment. I know everyone in the Fortune Brands family joins me in wishing Rich all the best in his much-deserved retirement.”

Prior to assuming his current role in the home products business in April 2009, Klein led Fortune Brands’ mergers and acquisitions activity, corporate strategy development and human resources. Klein, who joined Fortune Brands in 2003, previously led strategy and corporate development for all of Bank One’s payments businesses and held several operating roles, was managing director of financial services for Internet Capital Group, and spent eight years at McKinsey & Company, where he was a principal in the firm’s Chicago office. He holds an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Iowa.

Rich Forbes became president and CEO of the home products unit in January of 2007. Forbes joined the company’s cabinetry business in 1987 and held positions of increasing responsibility, becoming president and COO of the cabinetry operations in 1999 and president and CEO in 2002.

SOURCE Fortune Brands