New CEO, CFO Take the Helm at Excelitas Technologies

Excelitas Technologies Corp. has recruited new leaders to its management team, appointing Ron Keating as (CEO) and Ben Stas as executive vice president/chief financial officer (CFO). The pair succeed former CEO David Nislick and former CFO Jim Rao, who retired. 
 
“Nearly 20 years ago, I joined Excelitas, the past 13 of which I had the privilege of serving as its CEO. I am most proud of the culture Jim Rao and I have built, the thousands of employees across the globe who have joined our community and the significant value we have created with the entire Excelitas team for our shareholders. Jim and I are both committed to ensuring a smooth transition and have committed time to support new leadership,” saidd Nislick, who will remain on the Excelitas Board of Directors as an independent director. 
 
“Our Board of Directors would like to thank David Nislick and Jim Rao for their steadfast leadership. Over the last 13 years, David and Jim have built Excelitas into a leading industrial technology company,” said Vinay Kumar, Excelitas board member and partner of AEA Investors. “We have known Ron Keating and Ben Stas for over a decade and believe they can accelerate the success of Excelitas as it enters a new phase.” 
 
Before joining Excelitas Technologies, Keating was president, CEO and a director of Evoqua Water Technologies Corporation for nine years. In 2017, Keating took the global provider of water and wastewater treatment solutions and services public; in May 2023, he led the sale of Evoqua to Xylem, with a market topping purchase price at 25x EBITDA. Prior to Evoqua, Keating was president and CEO of Contech Engineered Solutions, an infrastructure site solutions provider. Before heading Contech, Keating served as president of the Metalworking Solutions and Services Group of Kennametal Inc., a supplier of tooling and industrial materials. Keating served on the Board of Directors of US Ecology Inc. until 2022, and currently serves on the Board of Directors of EnPro Industries Inc, a publicly-traded company.

Keating earned an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and a bachelor of science degree in industrial distribution from Texas A&M University.
 
Ben Stas served with Keating at Evoqua as executive vice president, CFO, and treasurer. The two also worked closely together at Kennametal, where they served in leadership positions before moving to Evoqua. Prior to joining Evoqua, Stas held various senior financial and business roles at Kennametal Inc. from 1997 to 2015. His positions there included vice president, Finance of Business Groups; vice president, Manufacturing for the Industrial Segment; CFO of the Industrial Business Group; and CFO of Kennametal Europe GmbH. In the late 1990s, Stas was a financial analyst for Global Financial Sales and Marketing, and before that was a plant controller at Dupont Co.  

Stas earned an MBA from Duquesne University and a bachelor of science degree in business administration from Drexel University. 
 
“Ben and I are honored to join the Excelitas team as we embark on an exciting future for the company,” Keating stated. “With a strong foundation created by David Nislick and Jim Rao, and its best-in-class technologies, Excelitas is poised for growth and sustainable success.” 
 
Excelitas Technologies is an industrial technology manufacturer focused on delivering innovative, market-driven solutions to meet critical sensing, detection, imaging and illumination needs of its OEM and end-user customers. Serving a vast array of applications across medical, life science, industrial, semiconductor, smart building, aerospace and defense sectors, Excelitas stands committed to enabling its customers’ success in their many various end-markets. The Excelitas team consists of more than 7,500 professionals working across North America, Europe, and Asia to serve customers worldwide.