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Prior to this role, Mr. Chen was Group President, for Canada, Mexico, and Puerto Rico. In this role he was responsible for sales and service growth for all Grainger operations in these countries.
Mr. Chen joined Grainger in July 1996 as Vice President, Asia Pacific, and established Grainger Global Sourcing, a division that sources low cost, high quality products manufactured overseas for Grainger’s private brand product offerings. After that Mr. Chen served as Vice President, Supply Chain Services, where he was responsible for the inventory management, transportation and leadership of Grainger’s FindMRO and Parts operations, later moving to Senior Vice President, Supply Chain Management.
Prior to joining Grainger, Mr. Chen had served as Senior Vice President, Asia Pacific, for Stream International Inc., a merger of R.R. Donnelley’s Global Software Services and Corporate Software, Inc.
Mr. Chen graduated from the University of the Philippines, Quezon City, Philippines, in 1976 with a bachelor of science degree in chemical engineering. He also earned a master of science degree in chemical engineering from the University of Iowa, Iowa City, and a doctorate in business administration from Indiana University in Bloomington, Ind.
W.W. Grainger, Inc. (NYSE: GWW), with 2006 sales of $5.9 billion, is a leading broad line supplier of facilities maintenance products serving businesses and institutions in Canada, China, Mexico and the United States. Through a highly integrated network including nearly 600 branches, 18 distribution centers and multiple Web sites, Grainger's employees help customers get the job done, saving them time and money by having the right products to keep their facilities running. Grainger is the national founding sponsor of the American Red Cross Ready When the Time Comes(TM) corporate volunteer training program. | 