American Vanguard Corporation (NYSE: AVD) announces that it has hired Don Gualdoni to the newly-created position of Chief Transformation Officer. Mr. Gualdoni brings to this assignment over 25 years’ experience in various leadership roles during which he has led several large, complex transformation projects. He joins us most recently from Teradata (a San Diego-based software company) and was formerly with McKinsey & Company.
Chairman and CEO, Eric G. Wintemute stated, “We are excited to welcome Don on board as our first CTO. He will be critical to the successful implementation of the three-pronged plan that we announced last month to improve operating leverage and align people and processes with enhanced profit. First, we have identified approximately $15 million in operating profit and interest savings to which we will be holding our managers accountable. Second, we are two years into a digital transformation and are now working with both our ERP sponsor, QAD, and global business consultant, Kearney, to expedite and expand the effort among all business centers and processes; this will enable us to make faster, better-informed decisions in the face of volatile markets, supply chains, climate and geopolitical shifts. Third, we are launching an organizational transformation in which we evaluate how we are structured, how we are incentivized to operate and how we can best gain the greatest efficiencies and operating leverage.”
Mr. Wintemute continued, “Having led multiple successful corporate system optimizations across various industries for many years, Don is ideally suited to lead our global transformation. He will be partnering closely with business leaders across our organization to identify opportunities, develop strategic and tactical objectives, and drive programs to successful implementation. With his well-established skillset, I am excited to have him guide our transformation.”
Mr. Gualdoni has a BSE in Chemical Engineering from the University of Michigan and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.
About American Vanguard
American Vanguard Corporation is a diversified specialty and agricultural products company that develops, manufactures, and markets solutions for crop protection and nutrition, turf and ornamentals management, commercial and consumer pest control. Over the past 20 years, through product and business acquisitions, the Company has expanded its operations into 17 countries and now has over 1,000 product registrations in 56 nations worldwide. Its strategy rests on three growth initiatives – i) Core Business (through innovation of conventional products), ii) Green Solutions (with over 130 biorational products – including fertilizers, microbials, nutritionals and non-conventional products) and iii) Precision Agriculture innovation (including SIMPAS prescriptive application and Ultimus measure/record/verify technologies). American Vanguard is included in the Russell 2000® and Russell 3000® Indexes. To learn more about American Vanguard, please reference the Company’s web site at www.american-vanguard.com.
The Company, from time to time, may discuss forward-looking information. Except for the historical information contained in this release, all forward-looking statements are estimates by the Company’s management and are subject to various risks and uncertainties that may cause results to differ from management’s current expectations. Such factors include weather conditions, changes in regulatory policy and other risks as detailed from time-to-time in the Company’s SEC reports and filings. All forward-looking statements, if any, in this release represent the Company’s judgment as of the date of this release
Contacts
Company
American Vanguard Corporation
William A. Kuser, Director of Investor Relations
(949) 260-1200
williamk@amvac.com
Investor Representative
The Equity Group Inc.
www.theequitygroup.com
Lena Cati / 212-836-9611
Lcati@equityny.com