Keynotes
Neil DeFeo
Chief Executive Officer, The Sun Products Corporation
Neil DeFeo is an experienced CEO and corporate board member and an active community leader.
Mr. DeFeo is currently Chief Executive Officer of The Sun Products Corporation, a company he founded with Vestar Capital Partners (a leading global private equity firm) by purchasing the laundry business of Unilever N.A. and merging it with Huish Detergents, Inc. (the leading private label business in the U.S.) to create the new company. Sun Products has annual sales of more than $2 billion, and they are located in Wilton, CT.
Prior to joining Sun Products, Mr. DeFeo was CEO of Playtex Products, Inc. from October 2004, first as President and Chief Executive Officer and then named Chairman in March 2006. Mr. DeFeo left Playtex when it was sold, in October 2007, to Energizer Holdings, Inc., having tripled shareholder equity in three years.
Prior to Playtex, Mr. DeFeo was Chairman, President, and CEO of Remington Products Company from 1997 through 2003. In 2003, Remington was sold to Spectrum Brands where Neil served as a Director until his resignation in December 2005.
Mr. DeFeo began his professional career with the Procter & Gamble Company holding positions of increasing responsibility over a 25-year period. Mr. DeFeo then served as Group Vice President, U.S. Operations, from 1993 through 1996 for the Clorox Company, where he was responsible for its U.S. business.
Mr. DeFeo received his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Manhattan College, where he now serves as a Board member. He also has served on the boards of several other public and private companies and industry associations. Mr. DeFeo has been active in many non-profit organizations, including United Way and the March of Dimes, and he has served on many charity boards, currently the Advisory Board of The International Crisis Group.
Neil resides in Westport, CT, with his wife, Sandra. They have three daughters.
Tom O'Donnell
Senior Vice President, Chase Card Services, JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Tom O’Donnell is a senior vice president of JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s credit-card division in Wilmington, Del. Chase has issued more than 150 million credit cards in the United States and Canada and is the world’s largest issuer of MasterCard and Visa credit cards. O’Donnell has more than 20 years of financial services experience, and has recently led some of the industry’s most important innovations.
Currently, O’Donnell is responsible for leading a multi-billion-dollar credit card segment that represents a nationwide base of Chase customers. O’Donnell recently oversaw the launch of Chase Blueprint, an industry-first set of features that dramatically improve the way customers can manage their spending and borrowing.
Previously, O’Donnell directed the branding program for the merger of the Chase and Bank One card businesses. He led the initiative that made Chase the first credit card issuer to provide credit cards with contactless functionality to consumers. The feature, called “blink,” delivers a service that provides speed and convenience to consumers by allowing them to make a purchase by simply holding their card briefly near a point-of-sale reader at checkout.
Earlier, O’Donnell led Bank One’s strategic relationship with The Walt Disney Company and drove the effort to develop and market Disney’s Visa Credit Card. He also led the team that introduced the Disney Dream Reward Dollars stored value card, an innovation that allows customers to redeem their rewards in real-time at the point-of-sale.
Prior to joining Bank One, O’Donnell served at Accenture, where he led new business and growth initiatives for some of the largest financial services companies in the United States and Canada. Prior to that, he served with BearingPoint and the CIGNA Corporation.
A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Franklin & Marshall College, O’Donnell holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration from Drexel University.
