Management Changes Ahead at A.O. Smith

A.O. Smith is marking its 150^th anniversary this year; the company was founded in 1874 by Charles Jeremiah Smith.

Image courtesy of A.O. Smith

ACHR NEWS Editorial Staff

MILWAUKEE, Wis. — A. O. Smith Corp. has announced that Dave Warren, senior vice president, president, and general manager of the North America water heating division, will retire April 1.

Steve O’Brien, senior vice president, president, and general manager of the Lochinvar brand, has been named Warren’s successor. Darrell Schuh, vice president and general manager of water systems and APCOM, will replace O’Brien.

Warren was named president and general manager of the North America water heating business unit in July 2017. In this role, he has profit and loss responsibility for the 10 brands that make up the operation and oversees the unit’s 4,860 employees at facilities in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. Warren joined A. O. Smith as a sales coordinator in 1989.

“In each step of Dave’s career, he brought high energy, great leadership and strategic vision, and consistently grew the business,” said Kevin Wheeler, chairman, president, and CEO, in a press release. “We thank Dave for his dedication to A. O. Smith, his leadership, and steadfast commitment to the values and principles of our organization over his long tenure. With Dave stepping down and Steve and Darrell moving into their new roles, we have a solid succession plan in place, which allows for internal promotions of our talented leaders and a strategy to transition them to their new roles to ensure leadership and business continuity.”

O’Brien previously worked for A. O. Smith Electrical Products Co. for 14 years before the company was sold to Regal Beloit Corp. He later joined Mitsubishi Electric Trane HVAC US, where he gained extensive knowledge of the HVAC industry as a senior vice president. He rejoined A. O. Smith in April of 2022 as the president of Lochinvar.

Schuh joined A. O. Smith in 1991, prior to his current role, was vice president of product engineering in Ashland City, Tennessee, and director of product engineering for the commercial water-heating group, located in McBee, South Carolina. In 2006, Darrell transferred to the water-heating business unit from the A. O. Smith electrical products division.

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