Babcock & Wilcox Initiates Executive Transition
- Leslie C. Kass appointed Chief Executive Officer
- E. James (Jim) Ferland to serve as Executive Chairman
CHARLOTTE, N.C.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–$BW #BabcockWilcox–Babcock & Wilcox Enterprises, Inc. (B&W) (NYSE:BW) announced today that
it has appointed Leslie C. Kass to serve as Chief Executive Officer and
a member of the Company’s Board of Directors, effective immediately. Jim
Ferland will work closely with Ms. Kass, the management team and the
Board in the role of Executive Chairman until he steps down from the
Board on June 30, 2018 per his current employment agreement.
Ms. Kass has more than twenty years of engineering, operational and
site-level leadership experience with a number of energy and power
companies, along with a strong background and acumen in working with the
financial community, shareholders and potential investors. She has held
a number of roles of increasing responsibility since joining B&W in
2013, most recently leading B&W’s Industrial segment.
Stephen G. Hanks, who is continuing as Lead Independent Director, said,
“We are pleased that our succession planning process has produced a
strong internal candidate, and we are confident that we have chosen the
right person to lead B&W. Leslie’s extensive knowledge of B&W, its
markets, and its customers, combined with her experience in driving
operational improvements and strategic initiatives, make her a great fit
to build on Jim’s many contributions and lead the Company going forward.”
“I am excited to take on this new role and to build on the already
strong foundation B&W has developed as a leading provider of
custom-engineered technologies and solutions and aftermarket services to
global power and industrial markets,” Ms. Kass said. “We will continue
to focus on improving B&W’s profitability, cash flow, financial
flexibility, and consistency across the organization. I look forward to
working closely with the Board, Jim, the leadership team and all B&W
employees to execute on our strategies to create value for shareholders.”
To ensure a smooth transition process, the Board has created a new
committee that will work closely with management to oversee the
continued implementation of key initiatives launched last year that are
intended to achieve an optimal business mix, cost structure and capital
structure. Members of this committee will initially consist of Mr.
Ferland, Ms. Kass, Mr. Hanks, and two additional independent directors –
Brian R. Kahn and Brian K. Ferraioli.
Mr. Ferland said, “When B&W became a standalone company almost three
years ago, I committed to continue as CEO at least until a clearly
capable successor emerged. I am confident that my colleagues on the
Board have chosen the right person to lead B&W, and I look forward to
working with Leslie over the next several months to ensure a smooth
transition as she prepares to lead B&W into the future.”
Additionally, the Company has named Mark A. Carano, Senior Vice
President, Industrial and Corporate Development, to lead the Industrial
segment, effective immediately.
About Leslie C. Kass
Leslie C. Kass served as Senior Vice President, Industrial at Babcock &
Wilcox since May, 2017. She joined B&W in 2013, and subsequently served
in various roles including Vice President of Retrofits, the largest
business line in the company’s Power segment. Before joining B&W, Kass
held a number of engineering and project management-related positions of
increasing responsibility with Westinghouse, Entergy and Duke Energy.
She earned an undergraduate degree in materials science and engineering
from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a Master’s of
Business Administration from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business.
About Mark A. Carano
Mark A. Carano has served as Senior Vice President, Corporate
Development and Industrial Finance since January 2017. Prior to this,
since joining B&W in 2013, he has led the company’s corporate
development and treasury departments. Before joining B&W, Carano was a
managing director in the investment banking group at Bank of America
Merrill Lynch and held various roles of increasing responsibility in
investment banking at Deutsche Bank, both domestically and
internationally. He earned an undergraduate degree from Vanderbilt
University and a Master’s of Business Administration from Northwestern
University’s Kellogg Business School.
About B&W
Headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., Babcock & Wilcox is a global leader
in energy and environmental technologies and services for the power and
industrial markets, and has been transforming our world for 150 years.
Follow us on Twitter @BabcockWilcox
and learn more at www.babcock.com.
Contacts
Babcock & Wilcox
Investors:
Chase Jacobson,
704.625.4944
Vice President, Investor Relations
[email protected]
or
Media:
Ryan
Cornell, 330.860.1345
Public Relations
[email protected]
