Hillenbrand turns to plastics machinery veteran Ryan as CEO plans retirement

A CEO transition is underway at Hillenbrand Inc., the publicly traded Batesville, Ind.-based company with $2.5 billion in annual sales in fiscal 2020 from its molding technology, advanced process and death care business units.

President and CEO Joe A. Raver, 55, will retire at the end of the year after 27 years with the company, including the last eight at the helm of a transformative period. Sales shifted from what was essentially a $600 million-a-year casket company with 3,000 employees to a large industrial business with 11,000 employees.

Raver will be succeeded as CEO by Kimberly K. Ryan, 54, senior vice president and president of Coperion, a Hillenbrand portfolio business that manufactures compounding, extrusion and bulk material handling equipment.

Ryan was appointed executive vice president effective June 2 and will take over as CEO on Jan. 1, 2022, when she also joins the Hillenbrand Board of Directors.

"We're in a good spot for me to pass the reigns to Kim, who has had a tremendously successful career and did a fantastic job with our Coperion business," Raver said in a phone interview. "It's the right time for me to hand over the company, and she's the right person to take it forward."

Raver's and Ryan's paths have been crossing at Hillenbrand for decades, starting with the Batesville Casket Co., which is still a portfolio business, in the late 1980s.

Ryan credits Hillenbrand's management development programs for supporting her journey to the top executive position.

"I worked with so many talented individuals who helped me see what is possible before I could see it — Joe, honestly being one of them," Ryan said. "The mentorship in this organization helps people chase their dreams. It has been a fairytale for me to have it come to this after many people along the way encouraged me to take the chance because anything is possible."

As executive vice president, Ryan is now responsible for Hillenbrand portfolio businesses, including Mold-Masters and Milacron Injection Molding & Extrusion, in addition to Batesville and Coperion. The leaders of these businesses will report to Ryan, and she will oversee the development and execution of their strategies and plans to drive profitable growth.

The other members of the company's executive management team will continue to report to Raver during the transition.

Also, Ulrich Bartel, president of Coperion's polymer division, has been named Coperion president, and he joins the executive team effective immediately.

Ryan had been president of Coperion, which is Hillenbrand's largest business, since 2015. She is credited with building a strong management team as well as driving sales growth of 30 percent to about $1 billion in 2020 and more than 500 basis points of improved margin of earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization.

Hillenbrand bought Coperion Capital GmbH in October 2012, paying $530 million for the equipment manufacturer serving the plastics, chemical, food processing, pharmaceutical and aluminum industries.

Ryan recalls the deal.

"Joe was the lead executive who built the case for the Coperion acquisition," she said. "Then, I had the opportunity to come in and lead the team when he became Hillenbrand CEO."

Raver and Ryan started with Hillenbrand in 1988 and 1989, respectively, first working together at Batesville then Hill-Rom, a medical equipment division that was later sold.

"We have been in each other's business for many years," Ryan said. "It's wonderful because we know each other well. We've collaborated, and we look forward to working together on the transition."

Raver left Hill-Rom after four years and returned to Batesville Casket Co., where he served as president for just under three years. Ryan then ended up leading Batesville when Raver became president of Hillenbrand's process equipment group.

The Batesville segment, which has a 125-year history in the death care business, manufactures and distributes funeral service products in North America, such as burial caskets, cremation caskets and urns. Hillenbrand manages the business for cash and invests it to grow its industrial platforms.

Ryan held the Batesville post four years then was named Coperion president.

Hillenbrand underwent another corporate transformation with the November 2019 acquisition of Milacron Holdings Corp. for $1.9 billion, in part to add injection molding and hot-runner product lines.

The business became Hillenbrand's Molding Technology Solutions (MTS) unit, which has seen demand increase for injection molding equipment, in particular. The unit's order backlog for the second quarter was $362 million, a 93 percent increase year over year and up 24 percent from the previous quarter.

Hillenbrand posted $2.5 billion in annual sales in fiscal 2020.

The company is more than halfway through its three-year integration plan for Milacron.

"We originally had a $50 million target for synergies, and they came faster than expected," Raver said. "We moved that to $75 million and accelerated the synergies around supply management, procurement and improving operations through lean perspectives."

Bringing the two companies' operations and cultures together in the midst of the pandemic went well overall, but there was a period when the pressures of the CEO job were unlike any other for Raver.

"A job like this has a lot of headaches, but for me it was doing the Milacron acquisition in November of 2019 and then the COVID pandemic hit in February in China, where we have significant operations," Raver said. "That was really an uncertain time and the biggest challenge during my tenure as CEO."

Dealing with COVID-19 right in the middle of an acquisition meant a lot of sleepless nights for Raver, but he said the leadership team managed to move ahead on all fronts.

"We had to very quickly come together with personnel policies, changes in the benefits program to manage COVID-19 issues, and there were supply chain issues around the globe and we needed to keep our employees safe," Raver said. "We had all these meetings on a regular basis where we faced the same challenges and issues around the world. It brought the team together in a way that was unanticipated, and it became a little bit of silver lining during the COVID-19 pandemic."

Going forward, Ryan said she will look for opportunities to grow the company through investment in research, development and innovation. She also wants to further develop Hillenbrand's operating model.

"As we acquire companies into our business, we can take them to their best potential as quickly as possible," Ryan said. "I expect to continue that and the way we manage the financials of our company and the way we run."

The corporate strategy isn't crafted by any one person, Ryan added.

"The strategy is crafted by the collaboration of a team," she said. "I've had my say and contributions to that over the years. We're doing things we all committed to enacting."

Hillenbrand's balance sheet is in great shape and debt was paid down rapidly in the last 18 months, Raver added, poising the company to invest in product development and look for mergers and acquisition deals.

"The Coperion business that Kim ran the last six years does quite a bit in processed food and pharmaceuticals. We look to continue to grow outside of plastics in those kinds of markets, and within plastics we continue to add product lines and focus on recycling," Raver said.

Hillenbrand officials are particularly interested in biodegradable plastics and green biomaterials.

"That's where we'll invest most likely first as we start to look at M&A and larger internal investments," Raver said.

He plans to be involved with the transition for about the next seven months. Then, Raver said he will spend more time with family and do some outdoor trail hiking.

Ryan said her appointment as CEO successor is very exciting personally and for her family.

"I do have a daughter whose 26 and couldn't be more proud of her mom," Ryan said. "That's really its own greatest reward — to have your children appreciate the importance of these roles. It's not just about performing well for the position and the 11,000 colleagues reporting to you, but also for others who want to see that whatever their dreams are, they are possible and they will only be aided by a willingness to take on new challenges and new opportunities."