Gerhard Kschwendt

Gerhard is an Executive Leader with more than 20-years of success in manufacturing, healthcare, and professional services. Functional arears of expertise include Operations Management, Strategy, Mergers & Acquisitions, Organizational Design and Sales Management.

Most recently, Gerhard served as President and CEO of WAB US Corp., WAB-Group's North American subsidiary. WAB Group is a highly innovative manufacturer of wet-milling and mixing technology used in laboratories and production sites across various industries, ranging from Pharmaceuticals, Cosmetics, Paints and Coatings, Microelectronics to Life Sciences, Agrochemicals, and the Food Industry. During Gerhard’s tenure at WAB US Corp., the business more than tripled in size.

Prior to joining WAB Group, Gerhard spent 6 years at Alcoa (which became Arconic, and then Howmet), the $25B Aluminum and light metals conglomerate. Gerhard held several Executive and operational leadership positions, including as the VP and General manager of Arconic’s North American Forgings business The business specializes in lightweight metals engineering and manufacturing for the aerospace, transportation and power industries. Plants in Gerhard’s portfolio were the leading producers of structural parts for the aerospace industry and rotating parts for aero engines. Gerhard also served as the Vice President, Operations of Titanium and Engineered Products where he was responsible for Alcoa’s Advanced Titanium Forming and Service Center business.

Prior to transferring into Alcoa’s operating businesses, Gerhard was a Senior Vice President of Business Integration at Alcoa where he led the Integration of Alcoa’s $2B acquisition of RTI, a global leader in Titanium manufacturing. Prior to this assignment, Gerhard served as the global head of strategy for Alcoa, where he was responsible for Corporate Strategy as well as Alcoa’s internal Management Consulting group, Corporate Quality, and the Growth & Market Strategy team. During that time, he reported directly to Alcoa's Chairman and CEO and was a member of the Alcoa Executive Council, the senior leadership group that sets Alcoa's corporate strategic direction.

Throughout his career, Gerhard has been a consistent top performer with demonstrated history of driving growth while maximizing profit margins. He’s a passionate change agent and skilled operator with success in building strong teams, where employees realize their full potential. Gerhard has had success by combining strong analytics, accountability and strategy with pragmatism and rapid implementation.

Gerhard hold a master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from University of Kaiserslautern (Germany) and an MBA from the Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University.