Milwaukee-based Brady Corp. today named J. Michael Nauman president, chief executive officer and director, effective immediately.
Brady, which manufactures identification solutions, announced in October that CEO Frank Jaehnert would retire. Thomas Felmer has served as interim president and CEO since October. He will return to his role as senior vice president and chief financial officer.
“Michael Nauman is known and respected as a hands-on leader who thrives on attacking challenges, building customer relationships and driving product innovation,” said Conrad Goodkind, the lead independent director of Brady’s board. “His strong operational and financial background and experience in managing and growing diverse products and businesses throughout the world make him the ideal person to lead our business into the future.
“On behalf of the board, I want to thank Tom for his leadership as interim CEO. Under his watch, Brady has seen an upturn in sales from continuing operations and organic sales growth, he managed the divestiture of our European and Asian die-cut businesses, and we were chosen by Airbus to provide flexible print-on-demand RFID integrated nameplates. We are appreciative of Tom’s leadership and the board looks forward to working with Michael, Tom and others in growing shareholder value.”
Nauman has 20 years of experience in senior management positions at Lisle, Ill.-based Molex Inc., most recently as executive vice president and president of the Global Integrated Products division. In the role, Nauman led six global business units in the automotive, datacom, industrial, medical, military/aerospace and mobile sectors. He oversaw the division’s growth to 12,000 employees in 26 offices, with $1.2 billion in annual sales.
Nauman previously worked as a tax accountant and auditor at Arthur Andersen and Co. and later president of Ohio Associated Enterprises Inc. He holds a bachelor’s in management from Case Western Reserve University, the Certified Public Accountant and Chartered Global Management Accountant designations and three U.S. patents.
“I have been a Brady customer for many years and have always been impressed with the quality of Brady’s products and services, as well as its history of innovation,” Nauman said. “I was excited to learn about the opportunity at Brady. I’ve spent the past 20 years at a family controlled public company with Midwestern roots and values similar to Brady. Both companies share a global perspective and footprint and take great pride in their histories. I am both motivated and energized to be a part of the Brady family.
“Brady has a 100-year legacy of high quality, reliability and innovation. I will work to reinforce that culture and build on it to drive profitable growth and differentiate Brady from its competition. My goal is to make Brady even stronger and increase its industry leadership for the next hundred years.”
