Elected 2016
Former Chief Executive Officer and Director of Gardner Denver Inc.; Director, Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. and Rogers Corporation
Peter C. Wallace, age 68, served as Chief Executive Officer and a Director of Gardner Denver Inc. from June 2014 until his retirement as of January 1, 2016. Gardner Denver (now merged with Ingersoll Rand’s Industrial segment and renamed Ingersoll Rand Inc.) is an industrial manufacturer of compressors, blowers, pumps, and other fluid control products used in numerous global end markets. Prior to joining Gardner Denver, Mr. Wallace was President and Chief Executive Officer, and a Director, of Robbins & Myers, Inc., from 2004 until it was acquired in February 2013 by National Oilwell Varco, Inc. Robbins & Myers was a leading designer, manufacturer, and marketer of highly engineered, application-critical equipment and systems for energy, chemical, pharmaceutical, and industrial markets worldwide. Mr. Wallace is also non-executive Chairman of the Board of Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc., a leading provider of industrial products and fluid power components, and non-executive Chairman of the Board of Rogers Corporation, a leading provider of engineered materials and components for mission critical applications across various markets. Mr. Wallace also serves on the board of a private manufacturing firm engaged in packaging equipment and industrial markets and serves as a board member of a private equity backed firm engaged in transitional energy markets. He has served as a Director of the Company since 2016 and serves as chairperson of the Committee on Directors and Governance and a member of the Finance Committee.
Mr. Wallace has a wide and varied background as a senior executive, including having served as CEO of several leading companies in global industrial equipment manufacturing, serving a wide range of end markets, including aerospace, energy, and industrial. During his career, Mr. Wallace transformed businesses by developing clear strategies that included acquiring and merging companies, along with divestitures to free up resources that could be redeployed to create long-term shareholder value. He also led major organization changes, and in doing so recruited top talent and developed others in key areas, including strategic account planning, key account management, lean implementation, and facility rationalization, to improve profitability. Mr. Wallace has extensive experience in evaluating business opportunities and management teams as he has been engaged by several private equity firms to evaluate business plans. He has been a senior advisor to private equity firms, and has served as CEO of a private equity backed portfolio company. Mr. Wallace brings to the Board the perspective of someone familiar with all facets of worldwide business operations, including the experience of leading a NYSE-listed company. This broad and extensive experience in senior leadership roles, including his board experience in both public and private companies, and experience in mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures, provides the Company a competitive advantage in creating long-term shareholder value and seeking new strategic business opportunities and acquisitions.