Brady Corporation has announced the appointment of J. Michael Nauman as president, CEO and director, effective immediately.

“Michael Nauman is known and respected as a hands-on leader who thrives on attacking challenges, building customer relationships and driving product innovation,” says Conrad Goodkind, the lead independent director of Brady’s Board. “His strong operational and financial background and experience in managing and growing diverse products and businesses throughout the world make him the ideal person to lead our business into the future.”

Goodkind notes that Thomas Felmer, who has served as interim president and CEO since last October, will return to his previous position as senior vice president and chief financial officer.

“On behalf of the Board, I want to thank Tom for his leadership as Interim CEO. Under his watch, Brady has seen an upturn in sales from continuing operations and organic sales growth, he managed the divestiture of our European and Asian die-cut businesses, and we were chosen by Airbus to provide flexible print-on-demand RFID integrated nameplates,” says Goodkind. “We are appreciative of Tom’s leadership and the Board looks forward to working with Michael, Tom and others in growing shareholder value.”

Nauman joins Brady after 20 years in a number of senior management positions at Lisle, Illinois-based Molex Incorporated. For the past five years, he was Molex’s Executive Vice President and President of the Global Integrated Products Division, where he led six global business units in the automotive, datacom, industrial, medical, military/aerospace and mobile markets. Under Nauman’s leadership, the Global Integrated Products Division grew to 12,000 employees at 26 locations in 13 countries with $1.2 billion in annual sales.

“I have been a Brady customer for many years and have always been impressed with the quality of Brady’s products and services, as well as its history of innovation. I was excited to learn about the opportunity at Brady,” says Nauman. “I’ve spent the past 20 years at a family controlled public company with Midwestern roots and values similar to Brady. Both companies share a global perspective and footprint and take great pride in their histories. I am both motivated and energized to be a part of the Brady family,” he adds.

“Brady has a 100-year legacy of high quality, reliability and innovation. I will work to reinforce that culture and build on it to drive profitable growth and differentiate Brady from its competition. My goal is to make Brady even stronger and increase its industry leadership for the next hundred years,” says Nauman.

Nauman began his career as a tax accountant and auditor for Arthur Andersen and Company before serving as Controller and then President of Ohio Associated Enterprises, Inc. before joining Molex in 1994.

Nauman earned a Bachelor of Science in Management from Case Western Reserve University, is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA), a Chartered Global Management Accountant (CGMA) and holds three U.S. patents. He is a board member of the Arkansas Science & Technology Authority; Arkansas Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) Coalition; and Museum of Discovery.