MINNEAPOLIS, Nov. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Pentair (NYSE: PNR) announced today
that Randall J. Hogan, the 45-year-old president and chief operating officer
(COO) who was recruited to the company after successful executive careers at
McKinsey & Company, General Electric, and United Technologies Corporation,
will succeed Winslow H. Buxton as chief executive officer (CEO), effective
January 1, 2001. Buxton, 61, will remain as chairman. Hogan will retain the
title of president.
(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20001101/MNW019 )
Buxton has been CEO since 1992, and has led Pentair's annual sales growth
from approximately $800 million to nearly $3 billion, and there has been a
fourfold increase in earnings. Under Buxton's leadership, Pentair has
recorded average annual growth of 21 percent in operating income, 24 percent
in earnings per share, and more than 16 percent in revenues. Buxton's
accomplishments have included Pentair's strategic withdrawal from the paper
industry in 1995 and the ammunition industry in 1997. Since 1992, he led the
company in 16 acquisitions, including the two largest in the company's
history, both completed in 1999.
"Pentair has a long history of management continuity, with each CEO
selected by the board to effectively meet the challenges of the day and lead
the company onto the next plateau of growth, profitability, and increased
shareholder value," Buxton said. "Randy has demonstrated the technological
savvy, leadership skills, intelligence, creativity, and determination needed
to direct Pentair's fortunes as it steadily evolves into a new economy
company, one with a global focus on achieving a higher systems and technology
content of its electronic packaging and water purification lines, plus an
increasing emphasis on its e-business capabilities."
Prior to joining Pentair in March 1998, as an executive vice president and
president of the company's enclosures group, Hogan had more than 20 years of
experience in strategy development and implementation, operations management,
financial management, global market growth, acquisitions, and marketing.
He served as an executive at both United Technologies' Carrier and Pratt &
Whitney divisions, at General Electric's electrical distribution and controls,
power generation, and industrial and power systems divisions, and as a
consultant with McKinsey. Hogan is a Civil Engineering graduate of the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology with an MBA degree from the University
of Texas.
"Hogan's promotion to CEO is the latest step in a leadership transition
process that the board of directors initiated more than a year ago as I
approached my planned retirement date," Buxton said. "Randy's outstanding
management talent was a paramount reason we recruited him to the company less
than three years ago, and his skills were reflected by his promotion to
president and COO on December 1, 1999. It is appropriate that his
well-deserved elevation to CEO starts at the beginning of 2001, which enables
him to have full responsibility for the company's operations from the first
day of the new year. He will become only the fourth CEO in Pentair's 34-year
history."
Buxton said he and Hogan will work closely together in a transitional
management approach for the balance of 2000, focusing on accelerating the
impressive growth of the company's technology-driven water and enclosures
businesses, evaluating strategic acquisitions, and improving the performance
of the tools and equipment businesses. Buxton will remain as chairman of the
board until the company's annual meeting in April of 2002, at which time he
will retire and his successor selected by the board.
Since joining Pentair, Hogan has been instrumental in the turnaround of
the company's enclosures business, where he strengthened the core industrial
base while simultaneously increasing emphasis on the fast-growing electronics
market. He also resolved a challenging operating situation in Europe, and was
a leading participant in several strategic acquisitions to increase the
group's focus on marketing to global manufacturers of electronic systems.
"Under Randy Hogan's leadership, the enclosures group has become a
vibrantly growing business that is delivering excellent operating results,"
Buxton said. "Since becoming president and COO, he has been working with the
management team of our water group, which also is delivering outstanding
results, and he has been actively involved in the development of the company's
extensive new e-business initiatives. The water and enclosures businesses,
both operating in strong markets and occupying exceptional positions in those
markets, have grown dramatically and now represent more than 60 percent of the
company's revenues."
Pentair ( http://www.pentair.com ) is a diversified manufacturer operating
in four principal markets: tools, equipment, water and enclosures. The
company employs 14,000 people in more than 50 locations around the world.
Any statements made about the company's anticipated financial results are
forward-looking statements subject to risks and uncertainties such as those
described in the company's Annual Report on Form 10K for the year ended
December 31, 1999. Actual results could differ materially from anticipated
results.
For more information contact Mark Cain of Pentair, Inc., 612-486-2761.
SOURCE Pentair, Inc.
CONTACT: Mark Cain of Pentair, Inc., 612-486-2761/