Barry-Wehmiller, the 140-year-old, $3.6 billion-plus global platform of industrial and packaging automation, professional services and life sciences technology, has named Kyle Chapman chief executive officer, effective immediately. He assumes the CEO role alongside his responsibilities as president. Bob Chapman, who has served as CEO since 1975, will continue as chairman of the board and remains the majority shareholder. The transition extends a family stewardship that began in 1957, when William A. Chapman became president after joining the company four years earlier. Firm ownership transferred to the Chapman family in 1963, and Bob Chapman joined in 1969. Following William’s sudden death in 1976, Bob became president, then CEO and chairman. Reflecting on the succession, Bob Chapman said: "Our primary responsibility is to ensure a business model where the people in our span of care experience meaningful work, feel safe and valued, and are confident in our shared future. Throughout Kyle’s time at Barry-Wehmiller, he has added dramatically to that vision. Through this transition, we will continue to work together as father and son, as two stewards of our 12,000-plus team members, to show the world that you can create human and economic vibrancy in harmony."
Experience and roles of the incoming CEO
Kyle Chapman brings more than 25 years of private equity and operating experience to the CEO role. He began his career at Banc of America Capital Investors, where he completed approximately $300 million in investments across multiple industries. His tenure with Barry-Wehmiller started in 2009, when he co-founded BW Forsyth Partners, the company’s hybrid equity firm that has grown to more than $850 million. From 2015 to 2019, he served as a strategic financial advisor to Barry-Wehmiller’s leadership team. In 2020, he was appointed interim chief financial officer, shortly before being named president. With over a decade inside the organization, his appointment is positioned as a continuation of the group’s culture of leadership.
Commenting on his new role, Kyle Chapman said: "I'm honored to lead Barry-Wehmiller and am deeply grateful for the strong foundation my father and his leadership teams established. I’m fiercely committed to building on my dad’s legacy by demonstrating that a company can achieve extraordinary financial strength without compromising its commitment to people. We will show the world that it is possible to be both a model of human-centered leadership and a top-quartile performer. If we continue this trajectory, others will follow, not just because of our performance, but because we’re fulfilling our purpose of building a better world through business."
Operating model and leadership approach highlighted by Chapman
In connection with the transition, Kyle Chapman outlined several elements that the company cites as evidence of its approach to redefining success in business:
- History and track record of acquisitions with a permanent capital mindset: Barry-Wehmiller has acquired more than 145 companies with a perpetual hold orientation.
- Tested and enduring business model: the company remains focused on diversified, recurring and predictable revenue streams within healthy end markets with GDP-plus growth potential.
- Builder and scaler of companies: as an investor, operator and partner, Barry-Wehmiller drives growth by platform through a deployable business model playbook and an approach to fostering human vibrancy through a culture of leadership, supporting double-digit annual growth for over 35 years.
- Pioneered expectations of leadership centered on fostering human vibrancy: the Truly Human Leadership model emphasizes a shift from management to leadership, enabling and empowering leaders to perform with excellence while caring for others.
- Externally validated approach to cultivating leaders: recognition from thought leaders such as Simon Sinek and Bill Ury, a Wall Street Journal bestselling book, Everybody Matters, a Harvard case study, invitations to present at the United Nations, the Aspen Ideas Festival and the Vatican, and integration into teaching content at a growing number of business schools.
Summarizing his aim for the organization, the new CEO stated: "Ultimately, I want Barry-Wehmiller to be a source of inspiration, undeniable proof that businesses can achieve sustained, elite performance without sacrificing their humanity. That’s the true measure of success in business."
