24.02.2012

Fazzolari out at Harsco

Harsco chief executive Salvatore Fazzolari has resigned effective immediately Henry W. Knueppel, 63, will step into his role on an interim basis until a permanent successor is found.

Non-executive director Kathy Eddy said: “The board appreciates the many contributions that Salvatore has made over the course of his 32-year career at Harsco, he has helped lead the company through an extraordinarily challenging period in the global economy and we sincerely thank him for his many years of service.”

“We are grateful that Henry Knueppel, a proven industry leader with deep knowledge of our company and its broad international reach, has agreed to step into the interim role during this transition period.”
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Henry W. Knueppel

Knueppel added: “While we ended 2011 on an encouraging note, end-market conditions continue to be challenging and we have work to do to further strengthen our businesses, particularly Harsco Infrastructure and
Harsco Metals & Minerals. We remain committed to executing on our five year growth plan, and I look forward to working closely with the senior leadership team to capitalise on the many opportunities available to Harsco. On behalf of the Board of Directors, I wish Salvatore well for the future.”
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Salvatore Fazzolari

Knueppel has been a director of Harsco since September 2008 and recently retired as chief executive of Regal Beloit corporation, which serves the industrial motor, power transmission and power generation markets. He joined the company in 1979 and worked in a number of positions before being appointed chief executive in 2005. He is still a director of the company and also holds a directorship at Snap-on.

Vertikal Comment

Under Fazzolari’s reign the senior management team appeared to be becoming more distant from its operations being based centrally rather than with their businesses. The company has struggled with its Harsco Infrastructure access business for some time.

We have no idea what drove this departure, but perhaps it will instigate a change of policy and strategy for the Infrastructure operations and bring in some new thinking at what is potentially a superb international business.