Steve Winchell Joins Dude Wipes

Flushable wipes company Dude Wipes announced the appointment of Steve Winchell as its first-ever chief product dude (chief product officer), marking the company’s first executive C-suite hire since its founding in 2011. The appointment comes on the heels of another defining company milestone: surpassing $1 billion in lifetime sales.

Reporting directly to co-founder and CEO Sean Riley, Winchell will oversee product strategy, innovation, research & development, quality and regulatory functions across the Dude Wipes portfolio. As a member of the senior leadership team, he will lead the next generation of product innovation while ensuring the exceptional quality and performance that has fueled the brand’s rapid rise.

“When you’re a startup, everyone wears a dozen hats – including product. But when you grow into a billion-dollar brand, you need someone whose entire job is making great products even better,” says Riley. “Steve has spent more than 25 years building products at some of the biggest names in CPG, looked at all of that experience and somehow decided, ‘Yeah, I want to go work at that cool butt wipes company.’ We weren’t about to argue with that. Bringing Steve onto our leadership team is a huge milestone for Dude, and we’re excited to have him leading the next generation of innovation.”

Winchell brings more than 25 years of experience leading innovation, R&D, product commercialization and operations for some of the world’s most recognizable consumer brands. Most recently, he served as executive vice president and chief innovation officer at The Honest Company, where he led R&D, Supply Chain and Technology while driving enterprise-wide innovation and long-term growth strategy. Prior to Honest, he served as executive vice president of Product Innovation at The Parent Company, where he helped guide the business through its public market debut and led the company’s innovation strategy and product portfolio expansion. Earlier in his career, Winchell spent more than 14 years at The Clorox Company, leading R&D and innovation across the Home Care business and Burt’s Bees, where he helped launch award-winning product platforms and establish industry-leading product standards.

Holding both a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry and a Master of Science in Chemical Engineering from the University of Cincinnati, Winchell combines deep scientific expertise with proven executive leadership across product development, commercialization and innovation.

“As someone who’s spent my career building products consumers trust, I was drawn to Dude because of its incredible culture, entrepreneurial spirit and enormous opportunity ahead,” says Winchell. “The brand has already transformed an entire category and built an incredibly loyal following. I’m excited to help accelerate innovation, continue raising the bar on product quality and bring even more game-changing products to consumers.”

In his new role, Winchell will oversee Dude Wipes’ product organization, including product development, quality and regulatory, while leading the company’s long-term innovation roadmap, new product pipeline and future growth platforms.