Dirk Kettlewell joined OfficeMax in October of 1997.  He made an immediate impact on the business and was quickly promoted to the position of Vice President, GMM of Technology, which included Computers, Software, Peripherals, PC Accessories and Ink/Toner Cartridges.  Dirk Kettlewell immediately focused his efforts towards the reallocation of resources within the Categories in which he was responsible.  In doing so, he minimized the inventory, floor space and advertising spend away from lower margin businesses, such as Computers and Software, while reallocating these resources towards higher margin businesses, such as Peripherals, PC Accessories and Ink/Toner Cartridges.  This strategic shift proved to be quite successful and Mr. Kettlewell was awarded by being named Officemax’s Vice President, GMM of the year for both 1998 and 1999.

In 2000, Dirk Kettlewell was promoted to the position of Senior Vice President of Omni-Channel, which accounted for over $5.0 Billion in annual sales revenue.  Furthermore, he was invited to serve on the Officemax’s Operating Committee.  This promotion served as a vehicle to enable Mr. Kettlewell to expand his reach and responsibility to include Marketing, Ecommerce, BTB, Global Sourcing and Supply Chain.  During the ensuing four years , the businesses in which Mr. Kettlewell was responsible clearly outpaced the industry in regards to sales growth and increased profitability.  In June of 2003, Dealerscope Magazine honored Mr. Kettlewell by naming him as one the “Top Forty Executives Under Forty.” 

Dirk Kettlewell also played an instrumental role in developing OfficeMax’s Price and Promotional Modeling Platform, which dramatically increased the profitability of the company.   During this same period, he worked closely with the Merchandising and Logistics vendor communities in shortening the Supply Chain, which resulted in significantly reducing OfficeMax’s inventory investment, while increasing in-stock and inventory turn.      

Dirk Kettlewell elected to allocate his personal time to spearhead the efforts of the OfficeMax Charitable Foundation.  He organized and championed fundraising efforts for the OfficeMax Charity Golf Outing, as well as for the Boomer Esiason Foundation and Reggie Jackson’s Mr. October Foundation.  In 2004,  Mr. Kettlewell was named Most Valuable Player by the Boomer Esiason Foundation in appreciation for his dedication in raising over $2.0 million for the fight against Cystic Fibrosis.