Charlotte based-Babcock & Wilcox Enterprises Inc. announced Thursday that it appointed Leslie C. Kass as president and chief executive officer, effectively immediately.
She has also been elected to the company’s board of directors.
Jim Ferland, the former CEO of the company, will help with the transition in leadership and will serve as executive chairman until he steps down June 30, per his employment agreement.
“When B&W became a standalone company almost three years ago, I committed to continue as CEO at least until a clearly capable successor emerged,” Ferland said in a release. “I am confident that my colleagues on the board have chosen the right person to lead B&W, and I look forward to working with Leslie over the next several months to ensure a smooth transition as she prepares to lead B&W into the future.”
Kass has over 20 years of engineering, operational and site-level leadership experience with multiple energy and power companies. She has served as senior vice president in the industrial segment of the company since May 2017. Before joining B&W in 2013 she held numerous leadership positions with Westinghouse Electric Co., Entergy Corp. and Duke Energy Corp.
Kass will be paid a base salary of $750,000 with an annual bonus of 100 percent of her base salary, subject to performance criteria. She will also receive equity awards with an aggregate grant date value of $1.5 million when the company makes its annual equity grants to executive officers in February.
Ferland’s employment agreement has been changed to reflect his new role as executive chairman to reduce his annual equity grant from $4.2 million to $450,000. His equity award will vest in full on June 30.
The board has created a new committee that will work closely with management to oversee and ensure the ongoing implementation of initiatives launched last year. The committee will comprise of Ferland, Kass, Stephen G. Hanks, Brian E. Kahn and Brian K. Ferraioli.
The company’s shares were trading at $6.63, up 2 percent in Thursday afternoon trading.
The filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission can be found here.
