Conner Industries Names Joseph McCormick As CEO and Kurien Jacob As Chairman Of The Board

Fort Worth, TX – February 8th, 2016 – Conner Industries, Inc. (“Conner”), a leading national lumber processor and integrated provider of packaging solutions, announced today the appointments of Joseph McCormick as Chief Executive Officer and Kurien Jacob, the current acting CEO, as Chairman of the Board.

Joseph McCormick has held leadership positions in several different industries including: aerospace, automotive, and industrial hardware and software products for utilities. Since 1999 until March 2015, Mr. McCormick has successfully led the operations of several divisions of Sensus, including as President of Die Cast Holdings, as President of Global Sensus Automotive Division, as VP of North America Operations, as COO of Conservation Solutions Division, as EVP of Global Meter Business, as VP of Operations of Sensus Manufacturing Shanghai Ltd. and as Operations Manager at Smith-Blair. Prior to Sensus, Mr.McCormick held various manufacturing roles at Boeing Commercial Airplanes. He holds a B.S. in Science from Emporia State University in Kansas and an MSBA from Texas A&M University-Texarkana.

Kurien Jacob said “Joe has an impressive background in operations and manufacturing as well as expertise achieving growth and executing strategic acquisitions. He has a proven track record of transforming businesses to deliver growth in revenue, profits and shareholder value.”

“I am excited to join Conner Industries. It has an enviable reputation in the market segments it serves and has substantial growth potential,” said Joe. “My background, in addition to the management team’s knowledge and experience at Conner, will provide great opportunities to expand the footprint of the company to benefit customers, employees, and shareholders,” added Joe.

Walter Barandiaran, the Managing Partner of Argentum Capital Partners, L.P., the majority owner of Conner, added, “I am very pleased to have Conner being led by Joe as CEO. His strategic approach to managing and growing global enterprises will be of great benefit to the company.” Mr. Barandiaran continued, “As Acting CEO, Kurien has done an outstanding job streamlining and repositioning the company for growth, and I am pleased that he will continue in a leadership role as Chairman of the Board. I am also pleased to have Tom Rice, who retired as Chairman of Conner in December 2015, continue to advise the company as a Director Emeritus of Conner.”

 

About Conner Industries, Inc.

Conner Industries is a leading provider of industrial wood products and services to the industrial and materials handling industries for the last 30 years. The company specializes in supplying cut lumber (softwoods, hardwoods, and panel woods) needed for pallet, crate and skid parts, and fully assembled products, such as pallets, crates, skids and industrial containers. Conner services its customers nationwide from 13 manufacturing plants located in nine states: AL, FL, GA, MS, OK, SC, TN, TX, and VA. Conner is one of The Argentum Group’s portfolio companies.

About Argentum

Argentum is a New York-based private equity firm that provides growth capital to rapidly growing service companies. Argentum pursues buy-and-build strategies for businesses that can be scaled into much larger enterprises through a combination of organic growth and strategic acquisitions. Argentum has a successful track record of building industry-leading companies in several industrial sectors, logistics & transportation, environmental sectors, business outsourcing, technology-enabled and healthcare services. Since 1990, Argentum has invested in over 75 companies, and has supported over 175 add-on strategic acquisitions made by its portfolio companies. Please visit: www.argentumgroup.com.