Spencer Stuart Recruits CEO for TriMas Corporation
August 8, 2016 – Executive search firm Spencer Stuart has recruited Thomas A. Amato as president and chief executive officer of The TriMas Corporation. He succeeds David M. Wathen, who has recently stepped down.
In 2009 Spencer Stuart placed Mr. Wathen into the CEO role at the company.
Mr. Amato brings more than 25 years of broad industrial experience, having served in several leadership positions at global, multi-billion dollar businesses. Most recently, he served as CEO and president of Metaldyne, LLC, a $1.1 billion engineered products manufacturing company with 25 facilities in 13 countries, and co-president and chief integration officer of Metaldyne Performance Group, a $3 billion global manufacturing company formed in mid-2014 and taken public in the same year.
Under Mr. Amato’s leadership, Metaldyne increased its revenue and earnings, and he oversaw several company sale and merger transactions, contributing to significant equity returns for shareholders. He has also worked as a CEO for notable private equity firms, including The Carlyle Group, one of the largest private equity firms in the world, and American Securities.
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“Thomas is an accomplished executive with a strong track record of driving performance and we are very pleased to welcome him back to TriMas,” said Samuel Valenti, chairman of the board of directors at TriMas. He added that although the company has made great strides in its strategic growth and margin improvement initiatives, it welcomes new leadership to position TriMas to deliver enhanced value for shareholders over the long-term.
“TriMas has a great portfolio of businesses with market leading brands and products, and solid customer relationships, and I am excited to join the team,” said Mr. Amato. “Based on my preliminary assessment, I am confident we can identify and pursue significant opportunities to enhance the future performance of the company.” He added that he looks forward to working with the company’s global team to achieve TriMas’ untapped potential.
“After thorough succession planning and a comprehensive search process, assisted by Spencer Stuart, we are delighted that we were able to recruit someone of Thomas’s stature and experience to lead TriMas,” said Mr. Valenti.
Headquartered in Bloomfield Hills, MI, TriMas is a diversified growth company of high-end, specialty niche businesses manufacturing a variety of highly engineered products for commercial, industrial and consumer markets worldwide. It is organized into five strategic business groups: Packaging Systems, Energy Products, Industrial Specialties, RV & Trailer Products and Recreational Accessories. The company has nearly 5,000 employees at 70 different facilities in 10 countries.
Spencer Stuart’s CEO practice has conducted nearly 1,500 CEO search and succession assignments over the past half decade or so. Veteran recruiter Jim Citrin leads the firm’s North American CEO sector group. During his 20-plus years with the firm, Mr. Citrin has worked with clients on more than 600 CEO, board director, CFO and other top management searches and CEO succession assignments. He has handled a number of high-profile CEO searches including the ones that led to the hiring of Marissa Mayer at Yahoo, Léo Apotheker at Hewlett-Packard, Jack Dorsey at Twitter, and the promotion of Brian Krzanich to CEO at Intel. The firm recently recruited Frito-Lay North America CEO, Thomas Greco, to the CEO post at Advance Auto Parts.
Contributed by Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor, Hunt Scanlon Media
