MORRIS PLAINS, NJ — Honeywell announced Thursday that Vimal Kapur has been named as President and CEO of Building Technologies, effective immediately. He will succeed Gary Michel, who has announced plans to leave Honeywell to become CEO of a non-competing publicly traded company. Kapur will serve as a Company officer and report to Chairman and CEO Darius Adamczyk.
Kapur is a long-time company leader with an established track record of success within Honeywell Process Solutions (HPS) as well as business units within Building Technologies. He will also oversee Honeywell’s Homes business, with newly appointed President and CEO Michael Nefkens reporting to him until that business spins later this year. Building Technologies will be a strategic business group that remains with Honeywell after the anticipated Homes spin.
"Vimal is an outstanding leader who has proven his ability to consistently drive outstanding business results by thoroughly understanding the markets he serves and generating tremendous value for his customers," Adamczyk said. "He has been a big leader of our transformation to becoming a premier software-industrial company with his focus on expanding our Connected Plant offerings and driving breakthrough growth areas such as our rapidly growing Cyber Security business. He has also been effective in integrating businesses such as Elster and Thermal Solutions into the Process Solutions portfolio — all to the benefit of our customers. I have no doubt that Vimal will apply his insights and experience to the Buildings industry and spearhead a wide range of growth platforms for Honeywell."
Adamczyk added, "We regret losing a talented leader like Gary Michel, who has made significant strides in improving the performance of Home and Building Technologies since joining Honeywell last year. Gary is excited about the opportunity to be CEO of a public company, and we wish him all the best in his new endeavor."
In 2014, Kapur was named as President of HPS, a pioneer in providing automation control, software, field devices and services to process manufacturers in industries such as oil and gas, refining, pulp and paper, petrochemicals, and metals, minerals and mining. Under Kapur’s leadership, HPS generated significant margin expansion while outperforming its peer group substantially. Kapur led HPS through a tough oil and gas downturn in 2015, and the business emerged as an even stronger competitor with a pipeline of innovative new offerings.
Previously, Kapur served as Vice President/General Manager of the Advanced Solutions line of business for HPS, where he built the foundation of a very strong software business that now is being transformed as Honeywell Connected Plant. Kapur has held several other key leadership positions during his 29 years at Honeywell, including Managing Director for Honeywell Automation India Limited (HAIL), where he led the former Automation and Control Solutions business, which was a precursor to Building Technologies. In this role, Kapur drove rapid growth in India at Honeywell Building Solutions (HBS) and the former Environmental Combustion and Controls (ECC), which are both components of Building Technologies. Kapur graduated from Thapar Institute of Engineering in Patiala, India, as an electronics engineer with a specialization in instrumentation.
Honeywell also announced that John Rudolph will succeed Kapur as HPS President. Rudolph has led the Projects and Automation Solutions business for Process Solutions over the past year, driving significant income growth. Previously, he led the Lifecycle Solutions and Services business for five years, where he commercialized Assurance 360, the industry’s first launch of a true outcome-based contract; launched the rapidly growing Cyber Security business; and introduced an array of e-commerce tools to better serve customers and expand revenues. Rudolph also has held leadership roles with TAS Energy, General Electric and Ingersoll Rand. He earned his B.S. in aviation from Purdue University.
