Steve Breitzka – Former Vice President, Group Executive, Danaher Corporation
Steve spent more than a decade as President and Group Executive of multiple divisions at Danaher Corporation. While at Danaher, Steve spearheaded the creation of Apex Tool, a $1.5bn revenue tools business formed via a JV between Danaher and Cooper Industries. As CEO of Apex Tool through 2014, Steve integrated and synergistically grew the businesses contributed by both companies. The business was acquired by Bain Capital in 2013. Most recently, Steve spent a year with Colfax Corporation to help transition the leadership team of its ESAB division. During his one year assisting Colfax, Steve help increase ESAB’s worldwide share in a declining market, improved on-time delivery performance, and helped on-board the new leader for the business. As a member of Gryphon’s Executive Advisory Board, Steve assists Gryphon in evaluating and managing investments in the specialty tools, test and measurement and sensors and controls industries, among others.
Kenneth Brown (“KB”) – Former Group President, Roper Technologies
KB brings deep knowledge and experience in the test, measurement and process control sector having spent 35+ years in the industry. Most recently, he served as Group President at Roper Technologies from 2013-2019 where he oversaw six group of companies totaling ~$250 million in revenue, 32%+ EBITDA. Prior to the Group President role, KB served as President at Dynisco, a Roper company focusing on material analysis equipment and specialty pressure sensors, from 2007-2012, Under KB’s leadership, Dynisco grew 25% in revenue, 40% in operating profit and 32% in EBITDA by 2012. Prior to Dynisco, KB was the VP of Measurement Instrumentation & Global Supply Chain leader at Invensys (now Schneider Electric) where he managed over 1,700 employees. KB’s diverse experience across leading test, measurement and process control companies is a key asset to Gryphon’s Industrial Growth Group.
John Conover – Former President, Trane
John spent 40 years in the building products industry, starting his career as a sales engineer in the Trane business before rising through the ranks to lead Trane’s Americas-based commercial systems organization. John led a business transformation within Trane, moving the organization from a product-driven company to a solutions business by combining HVAC systems, controls, service and contracting. After Trane’s acquisition by Ingersoll Rand in 2007, John became Sector President of Security Technologies. As a member of Gryphon’s Executive Advisory Board, John assists Gryphon in evaluating and managing investments in the HVAC and building automation industries, among others.
Scott Farmer – Former Chief Procurement Officer, Berry Global
Scott is a proven Senior Executive with 30+ years of experience in the Packaging Industry. He is a result driven executive that has led transformation. Scott managed spend upwards of $8B across 260 facilities and built the purchasing strategy while the company grew from $250MM in revenue to $13B today. He was part of the management team that took the company public in 2012. He has extensive experience in M&A having completed over 60 deals beginning with due diligence through to their successful integration. Prior to Berry Global, Scott held increasing roles in Supply Chain with Fortune 500 companies including, Hewlett Packard, Honda, Bristol-Myers Squibb and L’Oreal. As a member of Gryphon’s Executive Advisory Board, Scott assists Gryphon in evaluating new opportunities and managing Supply Chain and Sourcing initiatives across the portfolio companies. He currently sits on the boards of Vivify and Techmer PM.
Alan Gershenhorn – Former Executive Vice President & Chief Commercial Officer, UPS
Alan is an accomplished C-suite leader and public and PE backed board director and advisor with deep experience in a broad range of logistics, log-tech and other industrial enterprises. He retired from UPS in June 2018 after 39 years. Alan served in many roles of increasing responsibility throughout his UPS career before joining the UPS Management Committee in 2007, the executive board of UPS. As a member of the UPS Management Committee, for 11 years, Alan held various positions including SVP and President of UPS International (a $10.3B business unit at the time), SVP Global Sales and Marketing and also as the first EVP and Chief Commercial Officer of the company. He led several strategic initiatives and significant acquisitions, joint ventures and strategic enterprise fund investments including Coyote Logistics, the largest acquisition in UPS history and the joint venture with SF Express, the China domestic express market leader.
Mark Levy – Former President and CEO, Honeywell Life Safety
Mark Levy brings over 35 years of experience in the fire safety and security industry, most recently serving as President and CEO of Honeywell Life Safety. Under Mark’s leadership, Honeywell’s Life Safety business grew from $350 million to nearly $4 billion with a focus on innovation, long standing customer relationships, manufacturing excellence and strategic acquisitions. Mark started his career at Fire-Lite, a $500k revenue family-owned fire alarm business in Connecticut, which he grew to $50 million before selling to Pittway Corporation, and then subsequently grew to $350 million before selling to Honeywell. Mark remained president of Fire-Lite Alarms, Inc., and in 1987 was additionally named president of NOTIFIER, also acquired by Pittway. Mark’s accomplishments have been recognized with the prestigious Honeywell Hero Award in 2001, the top Honeywell Senior Leadership Award in 2004, and as an inaugural inductee into the Security Industry Hall of Fame by Security Sales Magazine. He has served on the Board of Directors of the University of New Haven and Latricrete International, as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Easter Seals/Goodwill Industries. Mr. Levy currently sits on the boards of Potter Electric Signal Co., Sciens Building Solutions, and Laticrete International.
John McDermott – Former Senior Vice-President and Officer, Rockwell Automation
John spent 39 years in the industrial automation and information industry with Allen-Bradley/Rockwell Automation. Most recently, he was responsible for the company’s global customer experience. John and his leadership team maximized Rockwell Automation revenue growth by matching customers’ needs to the company’s capabilities through valued relationships. Global Sales and Marketing (GSM) is the company’s customer-facing organization, bringing together global Sales regions, Global Accounts, Channels, Marketing, Pricing and Customer Care organizations. Previous to that, John held many roles of increasing responsibility throughout the businesses, including vice-president of regional commercial operations, divisional vice president and general manager, and multiple senior vice-president roles with business segment responsibilities across products, software, services and turn-key solutions. John currently sits on the board of Vessco Holdings and McNaughton-McKay.
Jim McGivern – Former CEO, SIGMA Corporation
Jim is a seasoned executive with over 30 years of experience in the Water and Wastewater Industry. Jim currently serves as Executive Board Chair for two market leading companies in the space, Vessco Holdings, the nation’s largest value-added distributor of process and flow control products and Newterra, a manufacturer of innovative treatment solutions for industrial and municipal customers. Previously, Jim was CEO of SIGMA Corporation and under his leadership, SIGMA has become a market leader in the manufacture and distribution of water and wastewater infrastructure products. Prior to that Jim was CEO of the Elster Group, the worlds largest metering company and COO of American Water the nations largest water service provider. Additionally, Jim currently serves on two further Boards which bring creative technologies to the industry. They are RedZone Robotics which uses robotic technology to survey buried infrastructure and complete condition assessments and EnviroMix, an innovative wastewater treatment company.
Lee Powell – Former Segment President, SPX Corporation
As the former President of Industrial Products at SPX Corporation, Lee oversaw a group with ~$1.2 billion of revenue that produced highly engineered products to a variety of end markets. As leader of this group, Lee managed a portfolio of 12 businesses, including selling two of the units and constructing growth platforms for the others. Lee was also responsible for integrating the cultures of these separate business units into the broader group. Prior to SPX, Lee was the President of Invensys Controls, a 26-location division of Invensys with 7,800 employees. Under Lee’s management, the size of the business doubled through customer acquisition and product line expansion.
Steve Rucinski – Former Executive Vice President of International Sales, Fastenal
Starting his career as a sales associate at Fastenal Company – Eau Claire, WI. Over the course of his career, he rose through the ranks to eventually lead the Company’s International Division, opening and leading operations in 23 countries across the globe as the Executive V-P, a direct report to the CEO. Throughout his career, Steve was a major contributor to the transformation of not only Fastenal but the Industrial Distribution industry, moving FASTENAL’s VMI systems to an industry leading position. The rise of Vendor Managed Inventory Systems including pioneering the Vending Solutions System Fastenal Developed and deployed for both the US and International markets, remains of strategic importance within the industry as a whole and Fastenal in particular. Since joining Gryphon as a member of the Gryphon Executive Advisory Board, Steve has assisted with evaluation and development of many opportunity’s leading to ownership of numerous opportunities in multiple Gryphon market segments today.
Rob Salek – Former CEO, Consolidated Fire Protection
Rob Salek brings extensive experience in the fire and life-safety sector having spent multiple decades in the sector in various roles. In 2006, Mr. Salek took over as the CEO of Consolidated Fire Protection (CFP), a Gryphon III portfolio company. From to 2006 to 2009, the company doubled its revenue and CFP was ultimately acquired by Minimax Global. Impressed by his executive leadership and deep industry knowledge, Minimax retained him as a Managing Director in their Asia division in 2009, advising the new CEO of U.S. Affairs and playing a key role in all acquisition activities throughout the world. Prior to this, Mr. Salek managed the Asian sector of an $11 billion global enterprise at Tyco International as the VP for Asia. Based in Singapore, Rob led the acquisitions team in increasing the sector’s revenue by 500%, rapidly acquiring and growing business from Southeastern Asia into China, Japan, and Korea. Mr. Salek began his career as a designer for a fire protection company, and quickly ascended the ranks due to an unrelenting work ethic, exceptional business acumen, and interpersonal savvy that enable him to work effectively with a diverse group of people.
Mark Stonacek – President, North America, Cargill Grain and Oilseeds
Mark spent 35+ years in the food processing and agribusiness industry and is an experienced global agribusiness executive. Mark has a strong track record of successfully leading highly competitive and profitable businesses in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico within the global international commodity trading and processing markets. He started his career as a trading manager in Cargill before rising through the ranks to lead Cargill as the CFO of Cargill Agricultural Supply Chain and prior to that, as President of Cargill’s Grain and Oilseeds North America Division. As a member of Gryphon’s Executive Advisory Board, Mark assists Gryphon in evaluating and managing investments in the food processing and agribusiness industries, among others.
Mark Throdahl – Senior Vice President, Becton, Dickinson & Company
Mark spent 45+ years in the medical devices, diagnostics, and pharmaceutical industry and is a seasoned medical technology executive with experience leading >$1bn global enterprises as well as smaller, growing companies. He currently serves as the Executive Chairman of OrthoPediatrics. Prior to OrthoPediatrics, Mark served as Group President of Zimmer and Chief Executive of Consort Medical plc in London. He also served as Senior Vice President at Becton Dickinson & Co., and President of Nippon Becton Dickinson in Tokyo. He began his career at Mallinckrodt Group. Mark is a graduate of Princeton University and has an MBA from Harvard University. As a member of Gryphon’s Executive Advisory Board, Mark assists Gryphon in evaluating and managing investments in the medical device and diagnostics industries, among others.
Clayton Tychkowsky – Former President Eaton Cooper Power Systems
Clayton retired after 32 successful years with Eaton Corporation plc, having served in multiple executive roles in Europe and N. America. In 2018 he stepped out of retirement temporarily to assume CEO responsibilities at Signicast Investment Castings located in Hartford, WI USA, where he assisted the business through two acquisitions and expansion into Europe. Clayton began his career in 1985 when he joined the Westinghouse DCBU business. Soon after Westinghouse assigned him to a field-based application engineer role where he collaborated with various customers in the Oil & Gas industry & assisted engineering consulting firms. Following Eaton’s acquisition of Westinghouse DCBU, he held multiple leadership roles in Canada, Europe, and the United States. Throughout his career, he has held full P&L responsibility for the businesses led with leadership responsibility for all functional aspects of the business – Sales, Marketing, Finance, HR, Manufacturing Operations, Engineering, Supply Chain, etc. Clayton now lives in Canada, but he continues to offer his expertise to others.