Rudy Vetter Biography

Rudy Vetter As Senior Vice President, Rudy Vetter leads Greater Phoenix Economic Council’s international efforts, working to attract innovate companies from around the globe. He is an internationally experienced marketing professional who has managed and developed leading brands in the US, Europe and Asia.

Vetter was most recently Vice President for Business Development & Sustainability at the Dial Corporation where he served as architect of the company’s corporate sustainability program. Upon earning his MBA, Vetter, a German national, joined Reader’s Digest Germany where he mastered the key principles of Direct Marketing. Privileged to meet the momentum of German unification, Rudy succeeded in driving Reader’s Digest’s circulation to historic records.

This success took Rudy to the German Henkel Group, a global manufacturer of laundry and personal care brands. From 1992 to 2002 he served in several marketing executive roles throughout Europe. Prior to his promotion and transfer to the US, Rudy assumed marketing responsibility for Henkel’s Asia Pacific region where he turned around businesses in Japan and China by introducing new models of brand leadership, innovation management and international collaboration.

Arriving at the Dial Corporation following the acquisition by Henkel, Vetter introduced a system of consumer-centric innovation management and built the product innovation pipeline for the $450M personal care division. With the 2005 launch of “Dial for Men” his team accomplished Dial’s largest launch within the last 10 years and the 2nd largest launch industry-wide.

In his role as Vice President Business Development & Sustainability, Vetter championed the idea of sustainability into Dial’s internal organization, its marketing approach and corporate strategy. He introduced an approach of “purpose-based marketing” that made Purex “Natural Elements” the only US laundry detergent recognized by the US Environmental Protection Agency “Designed for the Environment” program.

His holistic understanding led him to the development of “ecommitment”, a corporate sustainability program designed to inspire Dial employees to make a difference in people’s lives. This became the benchmark for Henkel’s worldwide sustainability efforts and led to Wal-Mart’s recognition of Dial as 2009’s “Sustainability Supplier of the Year”.