Norb Schmidt is the President of Kohler Kitchen & Bath North America. He’s charged with building the growth and performance of Kohler’s largest business through category management, marketing leadership, and focus on Kohler’s retail, consumer, and service channels.

Previously at Kohler, Norb served as the Senior Vice President of Global Kitchen & Bath Operations. In this role, he led global strategic sourcing, manufacturing, supply chain, and the operations support functions which included quality and advanced manufacturing process development. Norb also had responsibility for business development across the Latin America region, as well as overseeing critical corporate support functions, such as Environmental Health and Safety, Facilities and Maintenance, Indirect Procurement, and Corporate Travel.

Norb joined Kohler in September 2020 from Whirlpool Corporation where he served as Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, overseeing global engineering and the technology development teams. He spent 17 years at Whirlpool, progressively earning roles of greater scope and responsibility across engineering, supply chain, manufacturing operations, category management, product and brand marketing and commercial operations both in North America and the EMEA regions.

Norb serves on the board of directors for Marvin, a family-owned and -led window and door manufacturer. He is also on the board of directors for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Sheboygan County. In addition, he’s the executive sponsor of VIVA, the Latin culture business resource group at Kohler Co.

Norb earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Purdue University, a master’s degree in industrial and operations engineering from the University of Michigan, and an Executive MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. He also earned his Six Sigma Master Black Belt certification and speaks Spanish and Italian.