Hans Deamer is retiring as president and treasurer of Windmoeller & Hoelscher Corp., the supplier of blown and cast film lines and printing equipment in Lincoln.
Andrew Wheeler, the company's current vice president, will take the top executive's position.
W&H announced the news May 28. The Rhode Island business is a unit of Windmöller & Hölscher Group in Lengerich, Germany
Deamer left his native England with his family in 1979 and began his career as W&H's product manager of printing presses. The U.S. operation only had 11 employees. He became senior vice president of sales in 1990, and in 2001 was promoted to president and treasurer when his predecessor, Jim Feeney, retired.
Deamer will retire on June 6, after 35 years of service at the company. After steady growth, the company now employs more than 50 and generates annual sales of $160 million.
“We thank Hans for his 35 years of hard work and dedication in developing W&H's North American market,” said Peter Steinbeck, managing director of the W&H Group in Germany. “His leadership, technical knowledge and customer-first attitude has been integral in establishing W&H as an industry leader.”
Deamer has held long-term board positions with the Flexible Packaging Association and other trade associations for packaging and flexographic and gravure printing.
Wheeler joined W&H in 1988 and has been vice president since 2001. He ignited the company's growth in extrusion equipment, company officials said. That business now generates more than $50 million of sales.
Wheeler is a new member of the FPA board. He previously served on the board of the Society of the Plastics Industry Inc.
In other personnel news, Klaus Kleeman will become vice president of sales and Javeed Buch will become vice president of service. Both men are engineers, and have held management positions at W&H for more than a decade.
