American Vanguard Appoints Industry Veteran, Douglas A. (“Dak”) Kaye, III as Chief Executive Officer
December 05 2024 - 9:00AM
Business Wire
Well-positioned to further accelerate
transforming the global Company into an efficient,
profitable, customer-centric organization
American Vanguard® Corporation (AVD), a leading manufacturer and
marketer of innovative solutions for the ag industry in the areas
of crop protection and nutrition, turf and ornamental management,
and commercial pest control (the “Company”), today announced the
appointment of Douglas A. (“Dak”) Kaye, III as the new Chief
Executive Officer following a unanimous vote from its Board of
Directors (the “Board”), effective December 9, 2024. Mr. Kaye will
be based at global headquarters beginning January 6, 2025. Mr. Kaye
brings extensive experience to AVD and is expected to lead the
Company into a new era of growth and innovation. He will succeed
the Office of CEO (OCEO), which has been in place since July 15,
2024.
Dak’s global agricultural knowledge will be valuable in leading
the Company. For the past 13 years, he has served in a variety of
senior leadership roles at Albaugh, LLC, a top ten global crop
protection company. He most recently held the role of President,
North America, which is the largest region in the Company.
Previously, he was Group Chief Commercial Officer, where he oversaw
the commercial activities, which included North America, Europe,
Brazil, Argentina, and Latin America regions. Mr. Kaye also served
as President of the European region for seven years.
Prior to his work at Albaugh, Dak was the CFO and a Director at
a non-crop subsidiary of the crop protection company, Adama, and
previously held the role of Co-CEO at an international automotive
logistics organization. Mr. Kaye began his career at Arthur
Andersen, LLP. He has a Masters of Accountancy and a Bachelor of
Science in Business Administration, both from Auburn University.
Mr. Kaye was recently elected to the Executive Board of the
industry group CropLife America (CLA).
“We are excited to welcome Dak to American Vanguard,” said Scott
Baskin, Lead Director of the Board. “His appointment is the result
of a comprehensive search process that attracted many outstanding
candidates. We are pleased that Dak has agreed to join American
Vanguard to spearhead the next phase of the Company’s business
transformation,” said Mr. Baskin. He continued, “We believe that
Dak is the right executive to drive the Company to achieve its
transformation goal of generating an adjusted EBITDA margin of 15%
and to strategically position the Company for future growth. I also
want to thank the members of the OCEO for their leadership in the
interim. While managing several significant changes simultaneously,
they also jumpstarted the business transformation and the Company
has greatly benefited from their hard work and dedication.”
Mr. Kaye commented, “I am grateful to be named American
Vanguard’s Chief Executive Officer at this important point in the
Company’s history. I have admired American Vanguard for many years.
I view it as having strong relationships with customers by
providing solutions that customers know and trust. I’m confident we
can accelerate the transformation underway, driving revenue growth
and margin improvement. I look forward to leading the team to
success!”
About American Vanguard Corporation
American Vanguard Corporation (AVD) is a diversified specialty
and agriculture products company that develops and markets products
for crop protection and management, turf and ornamentals
management, and public and animal health. Over the past 20 years,
through product and business acquisitions, the Company has expanded
its operations into 21 countries and now has more than 1,000
product registrations in 56 nations, worldwide. To learn more about
the Company, please reference www.american-vanguard.com.
The Company, from time to time, may discuss forward-looking
information. Except for the historical information contained in
this release, all forward-looking statements are estimates by the
Company’s management and are subject to various risks and
uncertainties that may cause results to differ from management’s
current expectations. Such factors include weather conditions,
changes in regulatory policy and other risks as detailed from
time-to-time in the Company’s SEC reports and filings. All
forward-looking statements, if any, in this release represent the
Company’s judgment as of the date of this release.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20241205450800/en/
Company Contact American Vanguard Corporation Anthony
Young, Director of Investor Relations anthonyy@amvac.com (949)
221-6119 Investor Representative Alpha IR Group Robert
Winters Robert.winters@alpha-ir.com (929) 266-6315
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