Turnkey Grinding Solutions Provider, Glebar, Bolsters Executive Team with Appointment of New CEO Robert Baker, Formerly of Stryker Corporation

RAMSEY, NJ – Glebar Company, manufacturer and solutions provider of fully automated centerless and other types of turnkey precision grinding systems, announced today that Robert Baker, formerly of Stryker Corporation, will serve as the new CEO effective June 1, 2019. Former CEO Adam Cook will remain an integral part of the organization’s vision...

RAMSEY, NJ – Glebar Company, manufacturer and solutions provider of fully automated centerless and other types of turnkey precision grinding systems, announced today that Robert Baker, formerly of Stryker Corporation, will serve as the new CEO effective June 1, 2019. Former CEO Adam Cook will remain an integral part of the organization’s vision serving as Chairman of the Board. Adam will assist Robert and the management team with strategic planning and advisory, acquisition assessment and execution, and with expanding its reach into other synergistic revenue adjacencies. 

Robert is a successful veteran of the medical device manufacturing industry. He has spent the last 12 years holding numerous positions of increasing leadership responsibility in sales, manufacturing, and supply chain and commercial operations, most recently serving as VP of Global Operations for Stryker Corporation’s Joint Replacement Division. Stryker is a Fortune 500 company and a top tier OEM for the Orthopaedics, Surgical, Neurotechnology and Spine markets. 

Adam Cook states, “It’s an exciting time at Glebar. We’re thrilled to have a person of this caliber come on board at this juncture. Robert brings a high level of energy, precision and focus to our organization.” 

“His medical device industry relationships and deep manufacturing and operations experience will be welcomed on Glebar’s journey of continued growth and commitment to delivering innovative solutions to its partners – our trusted customers,” adds Adam. “In the 6 years since this management team took control, the company moved to a larger facility, doubled in headcount and launched many new solution driven products, all while achieving double-digit compounded annual revenue growth with dramatic profit expansion. I’m humbled to have led this organization for the past six years and look forward to working with Robert. He is the right person to lead Glebar forward, to build upon Glebar’s success and lead us to new heights.” 

“I’m excited to join such a fast-moving organization with a proud innovative spirit.” States Robert. “This is a special group of people and I will take close care in seeing that the Company’s 67-year reputation and history remains impeccable. I will listen closely and collaborate with our customers, our people, our Board and my management team to further fine tune this great operation. I am committed to Glebar’s mission of continuous improvement. With continuous improvement comes continued reward for our business, but most importantly our customers.” 

Prior to Stryker, Robert served as an officer in the United States Army where he was deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom. 

Other organizational changes at Glebar include the transition of John Bannayan from President to Chief Technology Officer, and the addition of Harold Faig to the Board of Directors. 

Having been at the company for over 28 years and now serving as CTO, John will continue to be instrumental in driving Glebar forward with its product development efforts. He has earned several patents over the years. John’s mix of executive and engineering savvy has been key in Glebar’s efforts to collaborate and partner with its customers to deliver innovative solutions tailored to a customer’s specific need. 

“At this point in Glebar’s growth trajectory, having Robert join the company armed with such a rich operational background as part of his skillset is tremendous. It will afford us increased bandwidth to focus on additional product offerings, further expanding our technological tool kit.” States John Bannayan. 

Behind the scenes, Glebar’s Board of Directors bring a long-standing combination of leadership, financial and technical prowess to the organization. 

Joining the board will be Harold Faig, who retired as President and Chief Operating Officer of Milacron in 2003. His career at Milacron spanned 36 years, including manufacturing, engineering, development, and product management. In 2008, Harold and Baird Capital Partners founded MedPlast (the predecessor of Viant Medical), a leading provider of highly engineered custom plastics processing solutions serving the global healthcare market and select industrial markets. Harold served as CEO of the company from its founding until its sale and was responsible for its organic and M&A activities which added significant global growth to the company. 

Harold joins Adam, Robert, John and Scott as Directors. 

Scott has served on Glebar’s board for the past six years. He has over 26 years of operational, lending and capital markets experience. Prior to starting his own investment firm, Scott was a Managing Director at Tenex Capital Management, and also held several leadership positions at General Electric Capital Corporation. Scott holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a B.S. in finance from Boston College. In 2004, Mr. Galletti was awarded the distinguished “40 Under 40” Award from Crain’s New York. 

 

About Glebar 

Founded in 1952 and based in Ramsey, New Jersey, Glebar Company (www.www.glebar.com) is an innovative, vertically-integrated process improvement company that designs and configures its standard platform of modular machine systems to provide turnkey precision grinding solutions for its customers. The company evolved from a centerless grinding machine manufacturer to a world-class precision grinding solutions provider, maximizing customer return on investment. Glebar serves companies all over the world, across many market segments including medical, general industrial, aerospace, consumer goods and mining. Its machines are known for their precision, longevity, flexibility and efficiency. 

Glebar machines are made in the U.S.A. to the highest quality and safety standards and are backed by a 24/7 customer service operation which includes a team of technicians, design engineers and customer service representatives. The company also stocks stand-by inventory of critical parts and tooling for next-day delivery in the U.S., Europe and Japan, and employs a dedicated applications team that spends its time on research and development activities, customer process enhancement and pushing the limits of grinding wheel technology. Glebar machines are currently serving customers around the world. Glebar is an ISO 9001:2015 Certified Company and is ITAR Registered. 

For more information or to request images regarding this release and/or other Glebar products, please contact Kathleen Haddad at 201-644-9923 or khaddad@www.glebar.com 

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Glebar Company • 565 East Crescent Ave • Ramsey, NJ 07446 (201) 3371500 • (800) 2355122 • Fax (201) 3376848 • info@www.glebar.com • www.www.glebar.com