PASADENA, Calif. -- Avery Dennison Corporation announced today that it has named John M. Sallay to the position of senior vice president, New Growth Platforms. In this new position, Sallay will be a member of the Company's Corporate Leadership Team and will be located in the Company's Framingham, Massachusetts office.

"John brings a wealth of experience to Avery Dennison as both a business builder and investor," said Dean A. Scarborough, president and chief executive officer. "In his role as head of New Growth Platforms, John will focus exclusively on growth opportunities for the Company, providing the direction and leadership necessary to develop a steady pipeline of new growth platforms for Avery Dennison and its businesses."

Sallay's responsibilities will include designing and building an organization to screen, select, fund and deliver on the Company's enterprise growth agenda, and support Group growth programs. Sallay will lead a team of venture management and business development professionals in defining the growth missions of each organization and in establishing their budget and investment requirements. He will also focus on creating new business models that leverage enabling trends, solve customer problems in new markets, and facilitate rapid assembly of internal and external capabilities required to build new platforms.

Prior to joining Avery Dennison, Sallay served as senior vice president for strategy at Staples, where he helped the leading office products retailer develop several new growth platforms. He also was the chairman and chief executive officer of Manifold Products, a company that develops and launches innovative consumer products based on new technologies. Sallay has also worked in private equity and venture capital firms, in investment banking, and as a managing director in Harvard University's investment management company, where he managed a portfolio of new ventures and rapidly growing businesses. He earned a BS degree in Economics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an MBA from Harvard Business School.