David Maura, 46, was named Chief Executive Officer on April 26, 2018 in addition to continuing to serve as our Executive Chairman, a position he has held since January 20, 2016. Prior to such appointments, Mr. Maura served as Chairman of the Board of Directors since July 2011 and served as interim Chairman of the Board and as one of our directors since June 2010. Mr. Maura was a Managing Director and the Executive Vice President of Investments at HRG from October 2011 until November 2016, and was a member of HRG’s board of directors from May 2011 through December 2017.

Mr. Maura previously served as a Vice President and Director of Investments of Harbinger Capital from 2006 until 2012, where he was responsible for investments in consumer products, agriculture and retail sectors. Prior to joining Harbinger Capital in 2006, Mr. Maura was a Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst at First Albany Capital, where he focused on distressed debt and special situations, primarily in the consumer products and retail sectors. Prior to First Albany, Mr. Maura was a Director and Senior High Yield Research Analyst in Global High Yield Research at Merrill Lynch & Co. Mr. Maura was a Vice President and Senior Analyst in the High Yield Group at Wachovia Securities, where he covered various consumer product, service, and retail companies. Mr. Maura began his career at ZPR Investment Management as a Financial Analyst.

During the past five years, Mr. Maura has served on the board of directors of Ferrous Resources, Ltd., Russell Hobbs (formerly Salton, Inc.), Applica, Inc., and HRG. Mr. Maura received a B.S. in Business Administration from Stetson University and is a CFA charterholder. Mr. Maura’s broad experience in M&A, the consumer products and retail sector, finance and investments, and his relationship with HRG led the Board of Directors to conclude that he should be a member of the Board of Directors.

Jeremy Smeltser, 44, was appointed Executive Vice President of Spectrum Brands, effective October 1, 2019. Mr. Smeltser, who reports to Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer David Maura, will succeed Doug Martin as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer on or prior to December 20, 2019. Mr. Smeltser previously served as Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of SPX FLOW, Inc. from 2015 to 2018 following its spinoff from SPX Corporation. Prior to his role at SPX FLOW, he served from 2012 until 2015 as Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of SPX Corporation, where he held various other roles, including Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Flow Technology, and became an officer of SPX Corporation in April 2009. Mr. Smeltser joined SPX Corporation in 2002 from Ernst & Young LLP, where he was an audit manager in Tampa, Florida. Prior to that, he held various positions with Arthur Andersen LLP, in Tampa, Florida, and Chicago, Illinois, focused primarily on assurance services for global manufacturing clients. Mr. Smeltser earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from Northern Illinois University.

Ehsan Zargar, 41, was appointed Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, effective October 1, 2018.

Mr. Zargar was a Director of Spectrum Brands Holdings from August 2017 until July 2018. From June 2011 until July 2018, Mr. Zargar also served in a number of positions as an employee of HRG Group, Inc., including serving as Corporate Secretary as of February 2012, General Counsel as of April 2015, and Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer as of January 2017.

Prior to joining HRG Group, he worked in the New York office of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP from November 2006 to June 2011. Prior to that, Mr. Zargar practiced law at another major law firm focusing on general corporate matters. Mr. Zargar received a law degree from Faculty of Law at the University of Toronto and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Toronto.

Randy Lewis, 53, was promoted to Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, effective September 9, 2019. He previously served as Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer since October 23, 2018. Prior to that, Mr. Lewis was President of the Global Consumer Products Group, consisting of the Pet Care, Home & Garden and Global Auto Care businesses, since April 2018. He previously served as President of the Pet, Home & Garden Division of Spectrum Brands since November 2014. Prior to that, Mr. Lewis was Senior Vice President and General Manager of Home & Garden since January 2011, where he led the restructuring of the business. From 2005-2011, Mr. Lewis served as Home & Garden’s Vice President, Manufacturing and Vice President, Operations upon the acquisition of the business by Spectrum Brands. Prior to that, he held various leadership roles from 1997-2005 with United Industries Corporation, ending as Vice President, Fertilizer & Growing Media Operations.

Prior to joining United Industries, Mr. Lewis worked from 1989-1997 for Unilever, PLC where he held various management positions of increasing responsibility in manufacturing within the U.S. Fabric Care Group.

Mr. Lewis earned a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign in 1988.

Rebeckah Long, 45, was named Senior Vice President, Global Human Resources on October 1, 2019 and continues to report to Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Randy Lewis. Ms. Long previously served as the Company’s Vice President of Human Resources since October 2018 and as its Division Vice President, Human Resources since December 2014. Prior to joining Spectrum Brands, she served as Regional Human Resources Manager at United Rentals, Inc. from June 2000 until February 2008. Ms. Long received a Bachelor of Science degree in economics from Illinois State University.

Dave Albert, 53, was appointed President of the Home & Personal Care (HPC) Division of Spectrum Brands in February 2019. Mr. Albert joined Spectrum Brands following the Company’s acquisition of the Hardware & Home Improvement (HHI) Division in December 2012. Among his leadership roles at Spectrum Brands during the past 7 years, he has served as Vice President & General Manager of both the Company’s Canada and Asia-Pacific regions.

Prior to joining Spectrum Brands, Mr. Albert held a number of broad, functional leaderships roles in marketing, business development, global sourcing, operations and finance at Stanley Black & Decker, General Electric and Zenith Electronics.

Mr. Albert earned a Bachelor’s degree in economics and business from Westmont College and an MBA from the Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University. He is a past member of the Board of Directors of Habitat for Humanity in Orange County, California.

Phil Szuba, 50, was appointed President of the Hardware & Home Improvement (HHI) Division of Spectrum Brands in November 2017. He previously was Senior Vice President and General Manager of HHI since September 2015. Prior to that, Mr. Szuba served as Senior Vice President, Global Technology and Operations since January 2014. He joined HHI in May 2008 as Vice President, Engineering. During the merger of Stanley and Black & Decker, Mr. Szuba was the integration team leader for HHI and was responsible for the functional integration as well as the Stanley & National Hardware business integration into HHI.

Before joining HHI, Mr. Szuba was Director and General Manager of Avdel North America for Avdel Fastening Systems, a business unit of Acument Global Technologies, formerly Textron Fastening Systems. Prior to this, he worked for 12 years at Lamb Technicon, a systems integrator of metal cutting and welding equipment.

Mr. Szuba earned a Bachelor of Science degree and Master’s degree in mechanical engineering and a Ph.D. in systems engineering from Oakland University. He holds 12 U.S. and numerous foreign patents and is a registered professional engineer.