People-Centric Leadership: Building a Future for American Manufacturing

The Presidents' Forum of Kansas City
May 13, 2009

Robert H. Chapman
Chairman & CEO
Barry-Wehmiller Companies, Inc.

Speaker Biography:
Robert Chapman received a B.S. in Accounting from Indiana University in 1967 and an MBA from the University of Michigan in 1968. He joined Barry-Wehmiller from Price Waterhouse in 1969 and spent six years in a self-created leadership development program that gave him hands-on experience in every discipline. He became Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of the family-owned company in 1975 upon his father’s death.

Barry-Wehmiller Companies, Inc. has leveraged strategic acquisitions and organic growth initiatives to become a leading provider of manufacturing technology and engineering consulting solutions to a global customer base. In 2008, annual revenues reached $1.2 billion for the first time in the company’s 123-year history, continuing a pattern of 20 percent compound growth in revenue and share value over a 20-year period.

Mr. Chapman’s commitment to people-centric leadership, continuous improvement and disciplined growth has helped transform Barry-Wehmiller into a well-balanced and financially solid company with dedicated team members working together to realize a vision we articulate as “Achieving Principled Results on Purpose.� His unique principled approach to business has made Mr. Chapman a much sought after speaker for a variety of professional conferences, including the Lean Enterprise Institute’s 2008 Lean Transformation Summit, the St. Louis Business Journal’s Salute to the Top 150 Privately Held Companies in St. Louis, and the annual meeting of the Packaging Machinery Manufacturers Institute (PMMI). Mr. Chapman has been featured in national business publications, such as BusinessWeek and Inc. magazine. He was named Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year in the manufacturing and industrial sector for the Midwest United States in 2000 and was nominated for the national award in 2008.

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