Houghton Promotes Executive
Kevin Smith assumes responsibility for general management of their EMEA region and global leadership of their transportation industry segments.
Posted: February 6, 2016
Has been promoted to the positions of senior vice president, Houghton International and president, Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and Global Automotive Aerospace.
Houghton International, Inc. (Valley forge, PA), a global leader in metalworking fluids and services, announced the appointment of Kevin Smith to the positions of senior vice president of Houghton International and president, Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and Global Automotive and Aerospace. Smith will be based in the company’s Manchester, UK office and report to the chief executive officer, Mike Shannon.
Smith will assume responsibility for the general management of Houghton’s EMEA region and the global leadership of Houghton specialty product lines for the major transportation industry segments, including automotive and aerospace. He will become a member of Houghton’s Executive Committee.
“Kevin brings to Houghton over 30 years of commercial and general management experience in global industrial, specialty chemical and consulting businesses,” said Shannon. “His broad leadership experience is essential to supporting our ambitious plans to accelerate growth in EMEA and expand our metalworking fluids business with global transportation industries.”
Prior to joining Houghton, Smith held the position of the chief executive officer of EMEA for Arysta Lifescience, a $1.6 billion global specialty crop protection firm, where he led the region to strong growth in revenue and profitability through acquisition, sales execution, commercial discipline, and product development. Prior to Arysta, Smith held the executive position of the group managing director, Europe for Sun Chemical, the $3.8 billion number one producer of industrial printing inks and pigments in the global market, where he also increased the organization’s revenues and profitability. Most recently, he held a two-year advisory role supporting private equity investments in specialty chemical businesses both in Western Europe and globally. Smith earned a bachelor’s degree in French from Leeds University and an M.B.A. from London Business School.
Since 1865, Houghton has been serving the metalworking, aluminum and steel industries, along with a variety of other markets including the offshore oil exploration metal finishing and surface treatment industry, with the development and production of specialty chemicals, oils and lubricants. Maintaining manufacturing and research facilities throughout the world, they continue to focus on expanding customer service operations and to grow worldwide facilities.
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