Kennametal names new business segment leaders
January 16, 2018
Kennametal Inc., Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, has announced two changes to its business segment leadership and executive management team. Effective January 16, 2018, the company stated that Peter Dragich will be appointed Kennametal Vice President and President of the company’s Industrial business. In the latter role he will take responsibility for the growth and modernisation of the company’s metalworking solutions and services globally.
In addition, Ron Port will become Kennametal Vice President and President of the company’s Infrastructure segment, where he will be responsible for the company’s advanced materials, earth cutting tools, engineering components and ceramics business.
Chris Rossi, Kennametal president and CEO, explained, “These leadership changes are designed to position the company to well execute the growth, simplification and modernisation plans we presented during Analyst Day in December 2017. I want to take this opportunity to thank Chuck Byrnes for his leadership of the Industrial business and certainly wish him well as he pursues other opportunities. Pete will continue to execute the strategies Chuck has started, while working to accelerate the execution of our modernisation program.”
“Pete’s nearly 30 years of experience in supply chain, operations and cross-functional collaboration make him uniquely qualified to lead this effort,” he continued. “Furthermore, Ron brings 25 years of experience leading large P&L’s, strategy and corporate business development. In addition, he was integral to the development of the current Infrastructure business segment strategy. Both leaders have a record of delivering results.”
Dragich has led Kennametal’s Infrastructure business for the past two years, and previously served as the company’s Vice President of Supply Chain and Logistic. Prior to joining Kennametal, he worked as Vice President, Global Field Operations, Climate, Controls and Security for United Technologies Corporation. He also served in several manufacturing management positions at Ford Motor Company and was a Sergeant in the United States Marine Corps.
Ron Port joined Kennametal in 2015 and most recently led the company’s Global Engineered Components business within the Infrastructure team. Prior to Kennametal, he led global P&L roles at Xylem, Inc. and ITT Corporation, and led strategy and business development for SPX Corp. (Flow Industrial).
In their new roles, Dragich and Port will report directly to Kennametal President and CEO Chris Rossi.
