Nordson
Corporation (NASDAQ-NDSN) today announced that Sundaram Nagarajan
(Naga) has been appointed President and Chief Executive Officer,
effective August 1, 2019. Mr. Nagarajan succeeds Michael F. Hilton, who
previously announced his plans to retire. Upon Mr. Nagarajan’s start
date, Mr. Hilton will become Senior Advisor to the Company and remain on
the board of directors until he retires on December 31, 2019.
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Effective August 1, 2019, Nordson Corporation’s new President and Chief Executive Officer Sundaram Nagarajan. (Photo: Business Wire)
Mr. Nagarajan joins Nordson following a 23-year career with Illinois
Tool Works Inc. (ITW), a Fortune 200 company. He is currently the
Executive Vice President, Automotive OEM Segment, for ITW, a $3.3
billion business segment. Under his leadership, the Automotive OEM
segment has a proven track record of delivering profitable revenue
growth through both organic and acquisitive means. Mr. Nagarajan has
been focused on creating value for his customers through innovation and
industry leading excellence in quality and delivery. He also has
prioritized building strong, diverse and global leadership teams to
sustain this above-market business performance.
“After a comprehensive search, we are excited to name Naga as Nordson’s
next President and CEO. Naga’s passion for technology-driven innovation,
knowledge of global industrial markets, and outstanding record of
improving the financial results of the businesses he has run by focusing
on customer intimacy, operational excellence, and employee development,
make him a perfect fit for Nordson,” said Michael Merriman, Chairman of
the Board of Directors.
“Throughout my career, I’ve thrived in driving growth and profitability
by focusing on the customer while also prioritizing innovation and
talent development. I am very honored to join Nordson, which has always
put its customers and employees first, and as a result has grown into a
market-leading enterprise with an outstanding reputation. I look forward
to building on this success with the Nordson team,” said Mr. Nagarajan.
Added Mr. Merriman, “On behalf of the entire Board, I want to thank Mike
Hilton for his outstanding leadership of Nordson over the past ten
years. We appreciate his commitment to supporting Naga in this important
transition, and the Board and I look forward to his counsel as Senior
Advisor to the Company.”
The terms of Mr. Nagarajan’s employment agreement will be described in a
Current Report on Form 8-K to be filed by the Company.
About Sundaram Nagarajan
In 1991, Mr. Nagarajan started his career at Hobart Brothers where he
was engaged in the design and development of welding consumables. The
company was acquired by ITW in 1996, and Mr. Nagarajan continued to grow
and take on greater responsibility over the next 23 years. He was
promoted to Group Vice President, ITW Welding Group in 2006 and Group
President, Welding International in 2008. From 2010 – 2014, he served as
Executive Vice President, Welding, where he led ITW’s $1.9 billion group
of welding and related industrial businesses worldwide. In 2015, he was
promoted to his current role as Executive Vice President, Automotive OEM
Segment, reporting to the Chairman and CEO.
Mr. Nagarajan holds a BS degree from South Gujarat University, India; an
MBA from Wright State University, Ohio; and an MS and Ph.D. in materials
science from Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama.
Mr. Nagarajan is a member of the Board of Directors of Sonoco Products
Company, Past Trustee of Hobart Institute of Welding Technology,
Advisory Board Member of IACS, member of the Executive Club, member of
the Economics Club of Chicago, Former Trustee of AWS Foundation Inc. and
Co-Chair of ITW’s National United Way Campaign (2013 and 2014).
Except for historical information and comparisons contained herein,
statements included in this release may constitute “forward-looking
statements,” as defined by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act
of 1995. These statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties and
other factors, as discussed in the Company’s filing with the Securities
and Exchange Commission that could cause actual results to differ.
Nordson Corporation engineers, manufactures and markets differentiated
products and systems used for the precision dispensing of adhesives,
coatings, sealants, biomaterials, polymers, plastics and other
materials, fluid management, test and inspection, UV curing and plasma
surface treatment, all supported by application expertise and direct
global sales and service. Nordson serves a wide variety of consumer
non-durable, durable and technology end markets including packaging,
nonwovens, electronics, medical, appliances, energy, transportation,
construction, and general product assembly and finishing. Founded in
1954 and headquartered in Westlake, Ohio, the company has operations and
support offices in more than 35 countries. Visit Nordson on the web at http://www.nordson.com,
@Nordson_Corp,
or www.facebook.com/nordson.
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