Canton, Oh., USA - May 14, 2014, Canton, Oh., USA - The Timken Company, an industrial technology company, announced that its has named Richard G. Kyle as president and chief executive officer of the company.
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Mr. Kyle was elected to the board of directors in 2013. he previously served as chief operating officer of the Bearings and Power Transmission Group, a position to which he was named in 2013.
In 2012, he was named group president of Timken, responsible for the Aerospace and Steel segments as well as the engineering and technology organization.
Before joining Timken, Mr. Kyle held management positions with Cooper Industries and later was vice president of operations for a division of Hubbell, Inc.
He started his Timken career in 2006 as vice president of manufacturing, responsible for the company’s global bearings operations. He was named president of the Aerospace and Mobile Industries segments in 2008.
Mr. Kyle received a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Purdue University and earned a master of business administration degree in management from Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management. He serves on the board of directors of the United Way of Greater Stark County.
Mr. Kyle is replacing James W. Griffith who is retiring as the president and chief executive officer of The Timken Company and will oversee the launch of TimkenSteel Corporation as an independent, publicly traded company by July 1.
Mr. Griffith joined The Timken Company in 1984 and held positions as plant manager, vice president of manufacturing in North America and managing director of the company’s business in Australia.
From 1996 to 1999, Mr. Griffith led Timken’s automotive business in North America and the company’s bearing business activities in Asia and Latin America. He was elected president, chief operating officer and director in 1999 and was named chief executive officer in 2002.
Mr. Griffith is vice president of the World Bearing Association and chairman of the board of the Manufacturing Advocacy and Growth Network (MAGNET). He is president of the Management Executives’ Society and serves on the boards of directors of the US-China Business Council, Illinois Tool Works and AB Volvo. He also serves on the board of the University of Mount Union.
Mr. Griffith holds a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering and a Master of Business Administration from Stanford University.
The company also announced that Ward J. "Tim" Timken, Jr., who had been executive chairman since 2005, will serve as chairman, chief executive officer and president of the new TimkenSteel Corporation, and will remain a director on the Timken board.
Mr. Tim Timken was first elected to The Timken Company’s board of directors in 2002 before being elected its chairman in 2005. He joined in the company’s steel business in 1992. He was named corporate vice president in the Office of the Chairman in 2000, responsible for strategy development.
Mr. Tim Timken's other positions at the company included sales and marketing management roles in the Steel Business and key postings in Europe and Latin America in the 1990s. While in Europe, he led a team to establish Timken manufacturing in Romania and to advance business in other regions of Central and Eastern Europe. In Latin America, he was responsible for all operations and sales, from Mexico to Argentina.
Before joining the company, Mr. Tim Timken opened and managed the Washington, D.C., office of McGough & Associates, a Columbus, Ohio-based government affairs consulting firm.
Mr. Tim Timken serves on the board of directors of Pella Corporation. He also serves on the executive committee of the boards of Team NEO and the American Iron and Steel Institute, both of which he previously served as chairman.
Additional board memberships include the National Association of Manufacturers Executive Committee, the Ohio Business Development Council, the Ohio Business Roundtable Executive Committee, the Stark Development Board, the Timken Foundation and the Timken Charitable Trust.
Mr. Tim Timken holds a bachelor’s degree in marketing from Georgetown University and a Master of Business Administration from the Darden School at the University of Virginia.
The company also announced that it has elected John M. Timken, Jr. as chairman.
Mr. John Timken currently is co-founder and serves as a director of Amgraph Packaging. He founded his first venture shortly after graduating from The College of Wooster, establishing Essex Racing Services.
His company distributed Cosworth racing engines, Van Diemen racing cars, and provided both fabrication and performance racing engineering services. ■