(BRK.A), (BRK.B)
Berkshire Hathaway’s MiTek Industries, Inc. has appointed Mark Thom as its new CEO. The current CEO, Tom Manenti, will assume the role of Executive Chairman for 2017. For now, Mr. Manenti will continue to report to Warren Buffett.
Mr. Thom has a rich background of executive leadership and achievement in management and sales. For 16 years, he led teams within the former Tyco Healthcare, a nearly $12 billion global manufacturer of medical and pharmaceutical products, where Mr. Thom received top honors as a sales person.
Thom began his career at Tyco Healthcare after graduation from Miami University and rose to the role of president of the Tyco’s Vascular Therapy division in 1998, just eight years after he left college. Soon after Tyco Healthcare acquired Mallinckrodt Medical, Mr. Thom was named president of Mallinckrodt’s Diagnostic Imaging business, and he was later named Group President, Tyco Healthcare in early 2003. In recent years he served as leadership consultant to the MiTek senior leadership team, where he learned the MiTek business and its culture.
Mr. Thom assumes the CEO role at MiTek at a fortuitous time for the Company. With notable acquisitions, diversification, and organic growth, MiTek has doubled in size since 2011, and has a strategic plan in place to double again over the next five years. His addition now provides leadership continuity as Mr. Manenti retires in January, 2018.
“The naming of Mark to the CEO position addresses one of my key business imperatives – Leadership Development and Succession Planning – a well-developed and widely used road map for MiTek leadership into the future,” said Tom Manenti, Chairman and CEO of MiTek. “More importantly, Mark is simply a top performer, in the very elite class of executives in multiple categories of corporate operations and effective leadership. I was thrilled when Mark accepted the CEO position. It was a banner day for MiTek worldwide!”
MiTek is a diversified, global business supplying a wide range of engineered products; proprietary business management and design software; and automated equipment to the construction and industrial markets.
© 2017 David Mazor
Disclosure: David Mazor is a freelance writer focusing on Berkshire Hathaway. The author is long in Berkshire Hathaway, and this article is not a recommendation on whether to buy or sell the stock. The information contained in this article should not be construed as personalized or individualized investment advice. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.