Myers Industries Inc. announced Sept. 27 that it is engaging in a “series of management and organizational changes designed to simplify the company's reporting structure and aim focus at executing on strategic initiatives.”
The Akron, Ohio-based polymer products company said that, as of Sept. 6, it had consolidated its two business segments — material handling and distribution — so that each now operates under a single management team.
“Over the past 90 days, I have reviewed the long-term strategic plans for each of the businesses across the Myers portfolio, and these organizational changes support our goal of simplifying and driving execution,” Myers CEO Dave Banyard said.
Under Myers' new structure, Mike Valentino serves as group president over the company's material handling businesses, which include Buckhorn Inc., Akro-Mils, Jamco Products, Scepter, Myers do Brasil and Ameri-Kart. He'll also head up Myers' procurement department.
The material handling business includes structural foam molding, injection molding, rotational molding and thermoforming operations.
Valentino joined Myers in January 2015, having previously serving as sector president for Marmon Foodservices Technologies, a Berkshire Hathaway-owned company based in Chicago.
Alex Williamson has been appointed group president of Myers' distribution business, the company said. He'll oversee Myers Tire Supply, Myers Tire Supply International and Patch Rubber Products. Williamson joined Myers in 2014 and was previously co-president of Wooster, Ohio-based Seaman Corp. and before that held senior leadership positions at Noveon Inc., which was acquired by Lubrizol in 2004.
Both Valentino and Williamson will report to Banyard.
“Under this new structure, Mike and Alex will be able to use their strong experience and leadership skills to address common challenges across the product lines and operations within their segments in order to improve overall productivity and efficiency,” Banyard said in announcing the management changes.
In addition to the changes at the top of the company's two business groups, Myers said that Kevin Gehrt has joined the company as vice president of human resources. He was previously vice president of global human resources at Cordis, a medical device maker that was acquired by Dublin-based Cardinal Health in October 2015.
Myers had a bit of a rough patch early this year, when its CFO, Greggory Branning left “to pursue other interests” in March. Then, in May, the company reported a first-quarter loss of $3.4 million, or 11 cents per share, on revenue of $151.2 million.
Between Dec. 15, 2015, and Feb. 16 of this year, the company's stock price fell from $15 per share to just under $10 per share. However, it then bounced back to a price of $15 per share again in July, before recently settling back to just above $13.
