Barry-Wehmiller, the St Louis-headquartered plastics packaging machinery supplier, has elected Kyle Chapman as chairman of the board.
Chapman, who has served as president since 2020 and chief executive since 2025, succeeds his late father Bob, who led the 141-year-old $4 billion company for five decades. He will retain his position as chief executive.
Chapman’s career began at Banc of America Capital Investors, where he completed approximately $300 million in investments across various industries.
In 2009, he co-founded BW Forsyth Partners – Barry-Wehmiller’s $850m-plus hybrid equity firm.
From 2015 to 2019, Chapman served as a strategic financial advisor to Barry-Wehmiller’s leadership team, contributing to the company’s ‘enhanced financial performance’ and facilitating a more deliberate approach to ‘living its culture’, the company said.
Putting people first
Bob Chapman, who passed away earlier this year and was described as a ‘relentless optimist’, led Barry-Wehmiller’s transformation from traditional management practices to a people-centric approach that helps team members feel valued and cared for.
His book, Everybody Matters: The Extraordinary Power of Caring for Your People Like Family, co-authored with Raj Sisodia, was a Wall Street Journal bestseller.
In his new role, Kyle Chapman will lead an experienced board of directors and will seek to advance the organisation’s commitment to redefining success in business by showing that ‘it is possible to achieve extraordinary financial strength without compromising your commitment to people’.
The company today has 12,000 employees on its books, and its business spans industrial and packaging automation through the BW Packaging brand, together with professional services and life sciences technology.
‘At an inflection point’
“Barry-Wehmiller is at an inflection point in its history,” said Chapman.
“We’re poised for incredible growth. And as we grow, as we redefine success in business, we’re going to attract more talent, complete more acquisitions, develop more leaders and have more influence. People are going to want to adopt our methodology.”
Board member Chet Walker added: “In his 15-plus years at Barry-Wehmiller, Kyle has risen to every responsibility placed before him.
“He does not simply carry his father’s name. He carries his father’s conviction, backed by a sharp and tested business mind of his own, and a clear-eyed understanding that our measure of success is not found on a balance sheet alone, but in the lives we touch and the trust we earn.
“This transition mirrors, in some ways, the one that shaped Bob himself. When Bob lost his father in 1976, he stepped forward and built something extraordinary. We believe Kyle will do the same – and we believe Bob knew it, too.”
