Patrick Kennedy

1 week ago | startribune.com | Patrick Kennedy

Barclays analyst Manav Patnaik, who wrote an investor note Monday after hosting Ecolab officials at an event, said the company has become better diversified and positioned today to take pricing actions after dealing with recent events that have upset markets and economies including COVID-19, the Ukraine-Russia war, raw material price increases and inflation. He said Ecolab leadership is attuned to shifts in the market.

2 weeks ago | thestate.com | Patrick Kennedy

While flying one day in 2018, a Graco engineer read a short article in a trade journal about a small company developing a new kind of electric engine. It was a lightbulb moment. While the engines were being used for larger industrial fans, Dave Thompson, the engineer who is now president of Graco's contractor equipment division, saw how their design might be re-engineered to fit into the company's products. Graco needed engines like those to improve its products.

2 weeks ago | startribune.com | Patrick Kennedy

By Patrick Kennedy "What's neat is within Graco, it's kind of spread like wildfire in terms of engineers understanding what this technology can do for them and wanting to try to use it in their products," said Ensign, who leads the motor operation. Now, beyond the paint sprayers, the motors are used, for example, in electric pumps instead of bigger, louder, less efficient air-operated ones. The ETM motors can't replace all industrial applications and Graco continues to buy some motors.

3 weeks ago | startribune.com | Patrick Kennedy

Last year, 3M had a leadership transition in May, resulting in both CEO Bill Brown and retired chief Mike Roman earning more than $7 million. Before Roman retired, he saw through the spinoff of 3M's health unit Solventum and made the hard decision to cut it dividend, losing its prized dividend aristocrat status. Brown came to 3M from L3Harris Technologies, where he was chairman and CEO. He joined as CEO May 1, but did not become chairman of the board until earlier this month.

4 weeks ago | startribune.com | Patrick Kennedy

By Patrick Kennedy Bryan Hanson's compensation for the first year when Solventum spun off from 3M into an independent company was $14.8 million, most related to his signing bonus when he was hired in September 2023. 3M recruited Hanson from Indiana-based medtech company Zimmer Biomet, where he served as chairman, president and chief executive. Solventum became a standalone company in April 2024.