Eaton Announces Succession Plan

Eaton (Cleveland): The company’s board announced several senior leadership appointments in anticipation of Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Alexander “Sandy” Cutler’s retirement at the end of May 2016 (photo at left). The appointments are the result of the board’s multi-year succession management process to continue the evolution of Eaton’s strategy and performance capabilities and to sustain the company’s values-based culture. Craig Arnold, 55, has been appointed president and chief operating officer of Eaton and a member of the board of directors, effective Sept. 1. Arnold will be chairman and chief executive officer of Eaton on June 1, 2016. Cutler, who has been Eaton’s chairman and chief executive officer since August 2000, will retire on May 31, 2016, having reached Eaton’s mandatory CEO retirement age of 65.

Arnold (left) has been vice chairman, president and chief operating officer of the Industrial Sector since 2009, with additional leadership responsibility for the Asia Pacific and Latin America regions. He joined Eaton in 2000 as senior vice president and group executive of the Fluid Power Group. Prior to that, Arnold held multiple senior leadership positions with General Electric in the United States, Europe and Asia. He has a master’s degree in business administration from Pepperdine University and a bachelor’s degree from California State University.

The board also announced that Richard Fearon has been appointed a member of Eaton’s board of directors, effective Sept. 1. He will continue to serve as chief financial and planning officer, a position he has held since 2002, and as vice chairman of Eaton. In other personnel news at the company, Eaton said that, in keeping with his long-time personal plans, Thomas Gross, vice chairman, president and COO of the Electrical Sector, will retire from the company Aug. 31, and that Revathi Advaithi, currently president, Electrical Americas region, has been appointed COO, Electrical Sector, succeeding Gross, effective Sept. 1. She will also have corporate responsibility for the EMEA region.

And in a related move at the company, Uday Yadav, currently president, Aerospace Group, has been appointed COO, Industrial Sector, succeeding Arnold, effective Sept. 1. He will also have corporate responsibility for the Asia Pacific and Latin America regions. Yadav joined Eaton in 1994 and has served as executive vice president, Eaton Business System, president of the Asia Pacific region for the Eaton Hydraulics Group, and vice president, Supply Chain Management of the Fluid Power Group, director and general manager of Eaton’s Global Hose Division and local managing director for Eaton in India. Prior to joining Eaton, Yadav worked with Lucas Engineering and Systems and Aeroquip Vickers. Yadav holds a double degree with honors in engineering and business from Nottingham Trent University in the United Kingdom.