Don Gualdoni joins American Vanguard as its first Chief Transformation Officer

American Vanguard Corporation (NYSE: AVD) announces that it has hired Don Gualdoni to the newly-created position of Chief Transformation Officer. Mr. Gualdoni brings to this assignment over 25 years’ experience in various leadership roles during which he has led several large, complex transformation projects. He joins us most recently from Teradata (a San Diego-based software company) and was formerly with McKinsey & Company.

Chairman and CEO, Eric G. Wintemute stated, ″We are excited to welcome Don on board as our first CTO. He will be critical to the successful implementation of the three-pronged plan that we announced last month to improve operating leverage and align people and processes with enhanced profit. First, we have identified approximately $15 million in operating profit and interest savings to which we will be holding our managers accountable. Second, we are two years into a digital transformation and are now working with both our ERP sponsor, QAD, and global business consultant, Kearney, to expedite and expand the effort among all business centers and processes; this will enable us to make faster, better-informed decisions in the face of volatile markets, supply chains, climate and geopolitical shifts. Third, we are launching an organizational transformation in which we evaluate how we are structured, how we are incentivized to operate and how we can best gain the greatest efficiencies and operating leverage.″

Mr. Wintemute continued, ″Having led multiple successful corporate system optimizations across various industries for many years, Don is ideally suited to lead our global transformation. He will be partnering closely with business leaders across our organization to identify opportunities, develop strategic and tactical objectives, and drive programs to successful implementation. With his well-established skillset, I am excited to have him guide our transformation.″

Mr. Gualdoni has a BSE in Chemical Engineering from the University of Michigan and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.