Robert Ackley has retired as the top executive of Davis-Standard LLC, the Pawcatuck-based machinery company announced Sept. 9 - his last day as president and chief executive officer, ending a 46-year career with the firm.
Replacing Ackley is Charles Buckley, former president and CEO of John Brown Plastics Machinery Inc., where he oversaw Brown thermoforming equipment, the Epco machinery remanufacturing business and a stable of other types of equipment, including injection molding machines, pelletizers, granulators and screen changers.
Buckley has more than 25 years of senior management experience in plastics processing equipment. He currently serves on Davis-Standard's board of directors.
Ackley, 64, began his career at Davis-Standard in 1959 as an apprentice drafter. He will continue to serve on the board and remain an equity investor, the company said.
Ackley was instrumental in creating Davis-Standard LLC earlier this year as a joint venture combining Davis-Standard and Black Clawson Converting Machinery Co. of Fulton, N.Y.
The company is owned by Davis-Standard's parent, Chemtura Corp. (formerly Crompton Corp.) and Hamilton Robinson LLC, the private equity firm that owns Black Clawson.
He led an acquisition spree in the 1990s to diversify Davis-Standard, a major supplier of single-screw extruders. Davis-Standard picked up Sterling accumulator-head blow molding machines, Egan film-making equipment, Killion Extruders Inc. and other companies.
Ackley has been active in trade associations. He is a director and past chairman of the Society of the Plastics Industry Inc. He also is a member of the Society of Plastics Engineers, the International Wire Association and the Plastics Pioneers Association. He serves on the board of governors of the National Plastics Center in Leominster, Mass.
