Ideal Industries Welcomes New CEO Chris Baldwin

Ideal Industries (Sycamore, IL): The company recently celebrated the accomplishments of retiring CEO Steve Henn (right in photo) and announces the appointment of Chris Baldwin (left in photo) as the company’s next CEO. Baldwin is a member of Ideal’s board of directors, and according to the press release brings a wealth of leadership experience across multi-billion-dollar public corporations and family-owned, privately held businesses. He will work alongside Henn in the coming months to ensure a smooth leadership change as part of the intentional governance and thoughtful strategic planning behind the transition. Steve is set to retire at the end of 2025.

“Steve set the foundation for long-term success through his six-year tenure of clarifying our enterprise focus and growing the core businesses. Now, Chris is poised to lead IDEAL into its next chapter of strategic global growth,” said Meghan Juday, chairman of the board, in the press release.

Before joining Ideal, Baldwin served as the COO and president of Knoll, then transitioned to become the group president of MillerKnoll after navigating the multi-billion-dollar merger of Knoll and Herman Miller. His prior experience includes overseeing thousands of employees during several enterprise-wide leadership roles including president, Kitchen & Bath Americas and president, Global Faucets at Kohler Company, as well as holding leadership positions at Siemens, Eaton, and more.

Outgoing CEO Steve Henn is retiring after six successful years at the helm. The press release said his leadership guided Ideal Industries through strategic divestitures and acquisitions that strengthened the company’s focus on its core business, outpaced industry growth and set the foundation for success. It said he also renewed the company’s commitment to product innovation.