Manufacturer Avon Rubber has appointed Rob Rennie as its chief executive officer with effect from December 1.
Rob, pictured, joins from UK engineering group Invensys, where he has held a number of senior positions and was part of the team that sold Invensys to French giant Schneider Electric for £3.4bn in 2013.
He replaces Peter Slabbert, who retired this week after 15 years at Melksham-based Avon – seven of them as chief executive. He is credited with helping transform the business into a highly-specialised manufacturer of innovative protection equipment such as gas masks for defence and homeland security customers as well as expanding its dairy business – which makes equipment used to milk cows – into a global brand. 
Rob Rennie’s most recent role at Invensys was president of its energy controls group, a division with annual sales of more than £260m. The group includes Eurotherm, the global supplier of industrial and process control, measurement and data management solutions, where Rob started his career and was ultimately appointed managing director and, according to Avon, was the driving force behind its evolution.
The appointment follows an in-depth external search process led by Avon Rubber’s chairman David Evans with support from its nominations committee.
Andrew Lewis, group finance director, will act as interim chief executive until Rob takes up his post.
David Evans said: “I am delighted to welcome Rob to Avon and the board looks forward to working with him. Rob has an impressive track record of leadership in growing customer and technology led engineering and services businesses.
“He has a strong commercial background in sales and marketing and this, along with his broad base of management skills makes him an excellent choice to lead Avon as CEO.
“Given Andrew’s experience as group finance director over the last seven years I am confident that his appointment as interim CEO places the group in very capable hands for the next two months. He will be supported by a stable and experienced senior management team who have been an integral part of delivering Avon’s success over recent years.
“Peter retires with our very best wishes and the board expresses its gratitude to him for leading the turnaround and delivering the impressive growth seen during his seven years as CEO.”
Avon expects growth to continue and has also made two recent acquisitions – June’s $5.1m (£3.2m) takeover of US firm Hudstar Systems, which designs and makes electronic control systems used in powered and supplied air respiratory protection systems, and August’s €29.75m (£20.7m) deal to buy InterPuls, an Italian firm making specialist milking products.
Rob Rennie added: “Avon is a company with a long and proud history and an exciting future. I am delighted to have been asked to take the CEO role. Having committed to remain with Invensys under Schneider’s ownership for one year after the acquisition, I am joining Avon refreshed and ready for a new challenge. The group has innovative technologies and global market leading positions in both its businesses and I very much look forward to leading the next stage of its development.”
Invensys previously owned Chippenham-based Westinghouse Rail Systems. It sold the business in May 2013 to German group Siemens for £1.7bn ahead of its takeover by Schneider.
