Kaman CEO Keating to step down

PHOTO | Lanny A. Nagler Kaman Corp. Chairman and CEO Neal Keating stands within the aerospace manufacturer's Bloomfield plant.

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By Sean Teehan

Neal Keating will step down from his role as CEO, president and board chair of Kaman Corp., about a dozen years after he took the reins at the Bloomfield aerospace and medical device manufacturer.

Keating will retire from his president and CEO post on Sept. 8, but remain as executive chairman through the company's 2021 annual meeting. After that he is expected to step down from his board role.

Meantime, Keating's successor is Ian K. Walsh, who most recently served as chief operating officer of REV Group, Inc., a leading designer, manufacturer, and distributor of specialty vehicles and related aftermarket parts and services. He takes over as CEO in September.

"It has been a privilege to lead Kaman for the past 13 years and especially during the past several months, which was perhaps the most volatile period we all have faced in our careers," Keating said. "I am incredibly proud of what our team has achieved together, including the recent sale of our former distribution business and the acquisition of Bal Seal Engineering, and I believe that the Company is strategically positioned for long-term growth."

Keating became CEO and board chair at Kaman about a year after he joined the company in 2007 as chief operating officer, and about 30 years after he started his career at Rockwell International. Between 1978 and 2002 Keating rose the ranks, eventually to chief operating officer of Rockwell Collins, Commercial Systems.

He went on to serve as COO at industrial distributor Hughes Supply and CEO of aerospace manufacturer GKN Aerospace, before landing at Kaman.

Like aerospace manufacturers all over the world, Kaman has seen profits fall since the COVID-19 pandemic led to lower demand in the industry. The company posted a $100,000 loss in 2020's second quarter, largely a result of that downturn.

In an earnings call with investors last month, Keating said that while commercial aerospace and medical device component earnings fell, the company’s defense business -- which accounts for about half of Kaman's revenue -- remained steady.

Keating oversaw the $330-million acquisition of California manufacturer Bal Seal Engineering Inc. Kaman completed in January.

His replacement, Walsh, is a former officer and naval aviator in the U.S. Marine Corps, He holds a Master of Public Administration from Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, and a Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School.

Prior to his COO role at REV Group, Walsh worked at Textron Inc., where he most recently served as president and CEO of TRU Simulation and Training.

A little background

In 2019, Keating earned a Lifetime Achievement Award from HBJ.

Curiosity helped spark Keating’s career, at first as an engineer and then as an executive at a series of aerospace and technology companies. The son of two Irish immigrants, he grew up learning the value of hard work and admiring the technical know-how of his father, a maintenance worker at Sears, Roebuck and Company in Illinois.

He earned an undergraduate degree in electrical engineering at the University of Illinois and in 1977 went to work at manufacturer Allen-Bradley, now a division of Rockwell Automation.

His aptitude for both the technical and administrative side soon brought Keating into management, with stints as national sales manager, director of marketing, director of development engineering and general manager of a division at Allen-Bradley.

But as he moved up in the ranks, the young executive felt a need to satisfy his curiosity about another complex subject — business.

“It really hit me dealing with finance and accounting and operations. … I didn’t know it. If I wanted to be able to lead people effectively and reach my full potential and have them reach their full potential, I needed to be a little smarter,” Keating said. He went back to school, earning an MBA from the University of Chicago.

When Allen-Bradley was acquired by Rockwell in 1985, Keating was able to pursue his lifelong interest in aircraft technology as chief operations officer for the conglomerate’s commercial aerospace business. That led in 2002 to him taking the post of CEO at GKN Aerospace, a Britain-based company that had planned to expand its U.S. operations.

When that expansion failed to materialize, Keating joined Florida-based Hughes Supply as COO until that company’s acquisition by Home Depot.

At that point, Keating got a call from then-Kaman CEO Paul Kuhn, who was planning to retire in 2008 and was in search of a successor.

“It was a really exciting and unique kind of opportunity,” Keating said.

Keating was intrigued but cautious about the top job at Kaman. Charles Kaman, a legend in the aerospace and manufacturing world, had led his namesake company to success from its founding in 1945 through the 1990s, but the firm hit some turbulence in the 2000s.

A $1.2 billion contract with Australia to supply Seasprite helicopters for that country’s navy was cancelled in 2008 amid concerns about delays and technical issues.

One of Keating’s first tasks was to unwind the Australia project; Kaman ended up selling 11 returned Seasprite helicopters to New Zealand in 2013 in a $120-million deal.