Principal Operations

Directors and Corporate Officers

Organization

MSA made a number of key organizational changes in 2013 to further enhance the company’s position as the world’s leading provider of advanced safety equipment and to ensure continuity of strong and experienced leadership going forward.

Stacy P. McMahan was elected Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, completing a planned management succession process that began in 2012. Ms. McMahan came to MSA in 2012 with more than 23 years of finance leadership experience, most recently serving as Vice President of Finance, Customer Channels Group, for Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc. Prior to that she spent six years with Johnson & Johnson as Vice President of Finance, and 16 years with Eli Lilly, where she served in a treasury-oriented position in Brussels, Belgium; as Finance Manager in Basingstoke Hampshire, UK; and in a CFO role in Sydney, Australia.

As Chief Financial Officer, Stacy succeeds Dennis L. Zeitler, who retired from the company at the end of 2013. With nearly four decades of service to the company, Dennis helped to expertly guide the financial health of MSA with an unwavering commitment to honesty, transparency and integrity. In addition to his financial management expertise, Dennis provided the vision and served as the “architect” for the world class office park known today as Cranberry Woods, home to the company’s corporate headquarters and John T. Ryan Memorial Lab. His straightforward style, professionalism and dedication to MSA’s mission have, without question, served MSA very well, and we are grateful for his many contributions.

With a focus on creating a truly customer-centric culture across the MSA organization, in 2013 Joseph A. Bigler was named Vice President and Chief Customer Officer, a newly created position for the company. In this role Mr. Bigler is responsible for developing and implementing a global customer experience framework that identifies and improves a broad range of critical customer touch points. A 41-year veteran of MSA, Mr. Bigler most recently served as President of the company’s North American operations.

Ensuring continuity of experienced leadership for the company’s North American business segment, Nishan J. Vartanian was elected Vice President and President of MSA North America. A 28-year veteran of the company, Mr. Vartanian played the lead role in guiding the integration of MSA’s acquisition of California-based General Monitors in 2010. In 2011, he was appointed to MSA’s Executive Leadership Team and, in 2012, was elected Vice President of MSA’s Fixed Gas and Flame Detection business.

In anticipation of future retirements among the Company’s Board of Directors, in 2013 MSA elected Rebecca B. Roberts to its Board of Directors. Ms. Roberts retired in 2011 as President of Chevron Pipe Line Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of Chevron Corp, where she was responsible for a network of more than 10,000 miles of pipelines transporting crude oil, petroleum products, chemicals, natural gas and natural gas liquids in North America. In addition to her MSA responsibilities, Ms. Roberts currently serves as a director for Black Hills Corporation and Enbridge Energy Partners L.P.