Ashland MBA helped Todd Rea ascend to President of Consumer Brands Group at Sherwin-Williams
The same year (2014) that Todd Rea earned his Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree from Ashland University, he also was promoted to his first executive position at Sherwin-Williams.
“I had been in multiple Vice President roles since then, several Senior Vice President roles and a few President roles,” said Rea, who has been with the global paint company for 32 years. “Most of those, if not all of them, were more North America-centric roles. Four years ago, I was promoted to the role I am in now, President of Consumer Brands Group, which is a global business.”
Rea and his wife had two young children at the time he was an MBA student at AU. Rea said AU’s flexibility provided him with the opportunity to balance career and family while returning to higher education after more than a decade.
“It was nights and weekends, so that allowed me to go to the class,” said Rea, who commutes to Sherwin-Williams in downtown Cleveland from his home in Medina.
“There was a satellite campus in Medina and the main campus in Ashland, so based on the schedule, I could figure out how to best make the locations work,” added Rea, whose classes at that time were mostly in-person.
In addition to its flexibility, Rea said the program’s strong reputation also attracted him to AU for his MBA, which he wanted to help with career growth and to continue learning.
He said the program’s professors, many of whom are still at AU (Dan Fox, Rebecca Schmeller, Robert Stoll, Dan Sullivan) were very helpful to him during the two years he pursued his MBA, as well as MBA Emeritus Executive Director Steve Krispinsky, whose passion for the program was instrumental in him choosing AU.
Rea said he still comes to campus as much as he can, sometimes when his friends’ children are playing sports for AU or to visit with some of his former professors.
“I try to stay connected when I can, but it can be difficult with my job and traveling a lot,” said Rea, who spends a great deal of time in his latest position interacting with customers around the world, including Europe and South America – places he said he wouldn’t have been able to visit otherwise.
As an undergrad student in Columbus in the 1990s, Rea started working at a Sherwin-Williams store part-time to help pay for college. When he graduated, he moved into a full-time role, which led to nine relocations within the company, and eventually executive sales leadership positions and his current job.
“My role is to really help define a strategy for the business and set a strategic mission and goals around business,” Rea said about being President of Consumer Brands Group. “I have a very talented team of people I get to work with and we work together to make sure our teams understand what our mission is and what our goals are and ultimately how we can best execute our plans.”
Because the world has a changed a lot the past few years with a supply crisis during the COVID pandemic, inflation and now tariffs, Rea said “the new norm is nothing is constant anymore.”
Many of the things he learned at AU have helped him deal with the ever-changing business landscape for Sherwin-Williams, Rea said.
Without his MBA from Ashland University, Rea said he probably wouldn’t be where is now with Sherwin-Williams.
“It shows a certain amount of commitment and discipline to go back and get an MBA, whether you’re right out of school or you take some time and get some work experience and go back,” he said. “I recommend it. I believe it helped me get to where I’m at, so I encourage anyone who is considering it to take a chance. I absolutely endorse Ashland University as a great place to go get an MBA.”