Paccar CEO to Step Down Next Year

[kscarbel]

Wall Street Journal / December 16, 2013

Commercial-truck maker Paccar Inc. said Monday that longtime Chief Executive Mark Pigott will be replaced in April by company President Ronald Armstrong.

Mr. Pigott, who has headed Paccar for 17 years, will remain as chairman of the Bellevue, Wash., company, which makes Kenworth and Peterbilt-brand trucks in North America and DAF trucks in Europe. Mr. Armstrong also was appointed to the company's board. The moves will take effect April 27.

Paccar didn't disclose a reason for the management change, but said Mr. Pigott "will help guide Paccar's future strategies and direction" as executive chairman of the board.

Mr. Armstrong, 58 years old, is a 20-year veteran of the company. Before joining Paccar, he was a senior manager at accounting firm Ernst & Young. Paccar is the second-largest heavy-duty truck manufacturer in North America based on sales volume, behind Daimler AG's Freightliner brand.

Mr. Pigott, 59 years old, is the great-grandson of William Pigott Sr., who founded the company more than a century ago as a manufacturer of logging and railroad equipment. A 35-year employee of the company,

Mr. Pigott became head of the company 1997 when his father Charles Pigott retired.

Mr. Pigott is credited in recent years for steering Paccar through dismal truck markets in North America and Europe and launching an ambitious expansion in South America. The company is widely admired on Wall Street for its history of consistent earnings in an industry with highly cyclical sales patterns.

[rickykarenpr]

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