CHARLOTTE, NC — Honeywell announced Jan. 5 that George Koutsaftes, an executive with over 13 years of leadership experience within its Performance Materials and Technologies (PMT) segment, has been named as Chief Operating Officer within its Safety and Productivity Solutions (SPS) segment. Koutsaftes, 52, will become President and Chief Executive Officer of SPS and a Honeywell Executive Officer on April 1. He will succeed John Waldron, who will be appointed to another senior leadership role within Honeywell at that time. Waldron and Koutsaftes will work together closely on the transition over the next three months.
"Since its inception 5½ years ago, Honeywell Safety and Productivity Solutions (SPS) has demonstrated its ability to achieve robust global growth and expansion into new spaces such as warehouse automation and connected worker technologies," said Honeywell Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Darius Adamczyk. "John has done a tremendous job in turning SPS into a leading growth engine for our company. Since 2017, SPS has achieved a sales compound annual growth rate of 9%, increasing from about $5.6 billion to about $8 billion. In order for us to continue to develop John as a senior leader, he will be given a key role within the company where customers and other stakeholders will benefit from his leadership. George has a very strong track record of driving growth, margin expansion, and free cash flow, and he will play an essential role in continuing our momentum within SPS."
For the past four years, Koutsaftes has led Advanced Materials, a $3 billion business unit within Honeywell PMT that provides solutions to the automotive, construction, life science, and semiconductor industries. During his tenure, Advanced Materials substantially expanded its operating margin and free cash flow, and increased revenue from new products by over 50%. Koutsaftes also served for the second half of 2019 as interim Business Development / M&A leader for Honeywell.
Prior to joining Honeywell in 2008, Koutsaftes was a senior-level M&A advisor who was a key player in transactions with over $7 billion in aggregate value. He worked for Young and Partners LLC, Eureka Capital Markets LLC, and Arthur Andersen Corporate Finance LLP. He joined PMT in 2008 as Director, Mergers and Acquisitions, and was instrumental in the acquisition of Thomas Russell Co., a leading provider of natural gas processing and treating technology and equipment solutions. He also led Procurement and Trade Compliance for PMT before leading the Fluorine Products global business enterprise, followed by Advanced Materials. He earned a B.S. in accounting from Marist College and an M.B.A. in finance from Fordham University.
Honeywell SPS provides products, software, and connected solutions that improve productivity, workplace safety, and asset performance for customers around the world. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Honeywell SPS rapidly established eight new greenfield production sites worldwide for personal protective equipment, enabling the addition of more than 1 billion units of mask capacity in 2020 to help front-line medical workers battle the virus. At the same time, Honeywell SPS rapidly increased production of sensors and switches used in critical medical equipment, including ventilators and oxygenators.
