Clay Kiefaber, who has been serving as Colfax president and CEO since January 2010, will become CEO of Colfax’s US$2 billion ESAB business, which was part of the recent Charter International acquisition. Charter increased Colfax’s total revenues from approximately US$700 million to US$4 billion. Kiefaber will also be an executive vice president of Colfax and will continue to serve as a Colfax director.
Colfax chairman Mitchell Rales said: “Steve Simms is a world-class executive, and we are thrilled that he has agreed to join Colfax on a full-time basis at this critical stage in the company’s growth and strategic development. Steve has deep international, strategic and operational experience, as well as a strong track record of successfully integrating acquisitions and increasing profitability, making him the ideal leader for Colfax at this inflection point in the company's size and complexity.”
Simms spent 11 years from 1996 to 2007 in increasingly senior positions at Danaher.