At its recent annual meeting of shareholders, the MSA Safety board of directors elected Steve Blanco to be CEO, effective May 10, and director of the company, effective immediately.
Blanco joined MSA in 2012 and has held several leadership roles, most recently as president and chief operating officer.
He will replace Nish Vartanian as CEO. Vartanian will be retiring in May, but will continue to serve on the board of directors and as a director of Koppers.
Vartanian joined MSA in 1985 and has held many sales leadership positions. He was elected president of MSA’s business in North America in 2013 and became CEO in 2018 and chairman in 2020.
“The board of directors and I are very pleased for Steve to become CEO in May of this year and to be elected to the MSA Board at what is a very exciting and dynamic time for our company and the safety industry overall,” Vartanian said. “Steve’s election demonstrates the high level of confidence the Board and I have in his abilities to lead MSA into the future and continue the track record of growth and performance the company has demonstrated over the past several years.”
MSA Safety is a safety products, technologies and solutions provider.