CorpDigest
WD-40 Company
Leadership History
4 leaders · Full leadership timeline
Last reviewed: 2025-07-15T00:00:00Z · By Swet Parvadiya
The exact chemical formula for WD-40 Multi-Use Product sits in a physical bank vault at U.S. Bank in San Diego. It has never been patented — deliberately — because patenting would have required public disclosure and carried a 20-year expiration. The decision, made in the early 1960s, created what amounts to a perpetual trade secret protecting an 80 percent market share in the penetrating oil category. That market share translates to $620 million in annual revenue with a 55.5 percent gross margin, operated by 750 employees distributing over 100 million aerosol cans across 176 countries. The ratio of output to headcount is extraordinary: roughly $827,000 in revenue per employee, from a company making a product that costs pennies to manufacture. The business model's essential structure hasn't changed since 1958: toll-blend the formula at third-party manufacturers, distribute through retail partners, and protect the brand through ubiquity rather than advertising innovation. WD-40 doesn't compete with its retail partners through direct-to-consumer e-commerce, which secures premium shelf placement at Home Depot and Walmart — endcap displays and eye-level positioning that an impulse-purchase product requires. Revenue has grown steadily: $525 million in fiscal 2023, $590.6 million in 2024, $620 million in 2025. The growth comes from price increases, international market penetration, and line extensions like WD-40 Specialist. The 3-IN-ONE acquisition in 1990, the Spot Shot and 2000 Flushes deals in 2003, and subsequent smaller acquisitions extended the product range without diluting the core brand.
Founder & Chemist
The relentless chemist who developed the 40th formula and saved the company from bankruptcy after 39 catastrophic failures. His decision to keep the formula a trade secret rather than patenting it remains the most valuable legal strategy in the company's history, ensuring perpetual protection of the core intellectual property.
Chief Executive Officer
Transformed WD-40 from a single-product manufacturer into a global, multi-brand consumer staples powerhouse. During his 25-year tenure, he implemented the 'tribal' culture model that resulted in 97% employee engagement, and oversaw the acquisition strategy that grew revenue from $100 million to over $600 million.
President & Chief Executive Officer
Assumed leadership in late 2024 with a mandate to accelerate international expansion and drive innovation in the WD-40 Specialist line. A 20-year company veteran, Brass has focused on optimizing the supply chain to protect gross margins and launching targeted digital marketing campaigns to capture the Gen Z and Millennial DIY demographic.
Janitor & Co-Owner
Though never a formal CEO, the company janitor who observed employees stealing the product for personal use and convinced the founders to launch the consumer aerosol line. His insight pivoted the company from a failing industrial supplier to a global consumer brand, fundamentally altering the company's trajectory.
The legacy of Norm Larsen, John George, and Sam Crivello lives on in every can of WD-40 sold around the world, a testament to the power of a simple, effective solution to a universal problem, and the strategic brilliance of protecting that solution as a trade secret rather than subjecting it to the limitations of the patent system. The WD-40 Company is not just selling a lubricant; it is selling peace of mind, the assurance that no matter what mechanical challenge arises, there is a simple, effective solution readily available in the familiar blue-and-yellow can. The company's international operations, which account for roughly 40% of total revenue, are managed through a mix of direct subsidiaries in key markets like the UK, Australia, Canada, and China, where the company captures the full wholesale margin and controls the brand narrative, and a network of exclusive distributors in the remaining 160+ countries, where the company trades a portion of the margin for market access and local expertise, minimizing capital expenditure and regulatory risk in emerging markets. Beyond raw materials, the regulatory environment poses an existential threat to the product's core formulation, as the California Air Resources Board (CARB) and the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) have progressively tightened limits on Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), forcing WD-40 to continuously reformulate its products to comply with increasingly stringent environmental standards.
The engineering challenge was immense: the solvent had to displace moisture, prevent corrosion, and not leave a residue that would interfere with the missile's delicate guidance systems, a set of requirements that had stumped several larger, more established chemical companies. The company was on the verge of bankruptcy, having exhausted its initial capital reserves and facing the imminent threat of shuttering operations, a fate that seemed inevitable given the seemingly insurmountable technical challenges and the lack of any alternative revenue streams. Recognizing the massive consumer potential, George and Crivello convinced a skeptical Larsen to repackage the formula in aerosol cans, a technology that was still in its infancy and presented significant technical challenges, as early aerosol cans were prone to leaking and exploding under pressure.
Steve Brass has served as president and chief executive officer of WD-40 Company since March 2022. Brass succeeded Garry Ridge, who retired after a 25-year tenure as CEO that defined the company's modern era and built the Tribe of WD-40 culture program. Brass joined WD-40 Company in 1991, more than three decades before being named CEO, and worked through a series of operational and strategic roles including leadership of the WD-40 Specialist business and global head of strategy. The internal succession was telegraphed for years as Ridge prepared the executive bench for a transition. Brass inherited a focused maintenance products company generating roughly $620 million in annual revenue across 176 countries, with a workforce of about 440 employees and a market capitalization of approximately $2.8 billion. His mandate has centered on continuing international expansion, growing the WD-40 Specialist line beyond its 2010s base, preserving the Tribe of WD-40 culture and maintaining the long dividend record. The CEO transition was widely viewed as a continuity move rather than a strategic reset.
Garry Ridge served as chief executive officer of WD-40 Company for 25 years before retiring in March 2022 and handing the role to Steve Brass. Ridge, an Australian who joined the company's Australian subsidiary in 1987 before relocating to San Diego, was promoted to global CEO in 1997 and led the company through its modern transformation. During his tenure he refocused the portfolio away from household cleaning, divesting X-14 and Carpet Fresh in 2009, Spot Shot in 2014 and Lava soap in 2015, and concentrated the company on the maintenance products franchise. Ridge launched the WD-40 Specialist line in the 2010s to extend the master brand into adjacent lubricant niches. He also built the Tribe of WD-40 culture program, which emphasized employee engagement, learning and the language of being a tribe rather than a workforce, and authored a book on the philosophy. Under his leadership the company expanded into roughly 176 countries, grew revenue toward $620 million annually and lifted the market capitalization to roughly $2.8 billion while maintaining the long dividend record.
The Tribe of WD-40 is the corporate culture program created and championed by longtime CEO Garry Ridge during his 25-year tenure at WD-40 Company. The program reframes the workforce of roughly 440 employees as a tribe rather than a traditional employer-employee structure, emphasizing belonging, learning, succeeding together, and a shared coaching language. Tribe members complete a learning commitment and adopt principles such as not making mistakes but learning moments, which encourage candid reflection on failure as a path to improvement. The program has been credited with high engagement scores and unusually low voluntary turnover for a consumer-products company, which in turn supports the company's lean operating model that outsources manufacturing and pushes more responsibility onto small global teams. Ridge wrote a book titled Helping People Win at Work, co-authored with leadership writer Ken Blanchard, that documented the philosophy. CEO Steve Brass, who succeeded Ridge in March 2022, has continued to invest in the Tribe culture as a competitive asset that supports brand stewardship and the long-term relationships with contract fillers, distributors and retailers in roughly 176 countries.
Garry Ridge retired as chief executive officer of WD-40 Company in March 2022 after a 25-year tenure that began in 1997, choosing a planned succession at age 64 rather than an abrupt departure. The board worked with Ridge for several years on succession, building the executive bench so that internal candidate Steve Brass could step in with full operational fluency. Brass had joined the company in 1991, more than three decades before assuming the CEO role, and had led the WD-40 Specialist business and global strategy. The handoff was deliberately framed as a continuity transition rather than a strategic reset. Ridge remained available to the board in a chair emeritus or advisor capacity and continued to evangelize the Tribe of WD-40 culture program publicly through speaking engagements and writing. Brass inherited the focused maintenance products portfolio, $620 million in annual revenue, roughly 440 employees in 176 countries and a $2.8 billion market capitalization. The transition was completed without operational disruption, and the company maintained its long record of dividend payments and consistent retailer relationships.