WARRENVILLE, ILLINOIS (January 1, 2018) – Effective January 1, 2018 Plymouth Tube Co. has named Drew Van Pelt its new president and chief executive officer.
Drew joins Plymouth as Donald Van Pelt, Jr., ‘Van’ – who served as president and CEO for 18 cumulative years and as Chairman of the Board since 2013 – makes plans to return to retirement. During Van’s tenure he transformed the business, increasing both revenue and shareholder equity one-third each by executing growth strategies in new markets and developing a service package to maximize customer satisfaction.
Drew and Van will work together closely during a transition period to ensure maximum continuity for the business. In a statement to employees, Van remarked, “Drew has been a valuable contributor to the Plymouth Board, and I’m very excited about the implications of this path for the Company and for me. This move will allow me to invest more time in mentoring key leaders in our business and focusing on the significance of larger economic and industry trends.”
Preceding this appointment at Plymouth, Drew Van Pelt worked with Warren Buffet as CEO of a Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary, Larson-Juhl. The Company manufactures and distributes custom picture framing products in 16 countries and has the leading market share in most of the locations in which it operates. “Plymouth has been important to me for a long time as I’ve watched first my grandfather and then my father lead the Company,” said Drew Van Pelt. “I look forward to supporting the Plymouth Experience that has been the bedrock of our partnership with customers for years, to living the four pillars of our mission statement and to learning how we can support our customers in new and innovative ways.”
ABOUT DREW VAN PELT
Drew Van Pelt graduated from Claremont McKenna College in 2002, with a major in Philosophy, Politics and Economics. After graduation he went to work for CIBC (Canadian Imperial Bank of Canada) in Los Angeles and then joined Primus Capital in Cleveland as an investor buying primarily healthcare IT businesses. In 2007 Drew left Primus to enroll in the Harvard Business School, where he earned his MBA in 2009. After graduating, Drew served as the Harvard Business School Leadership Fellow at Teach for America, a not-for-profit in the education sector for one year. Subsequently he ran a startup in the digital marketing sector, Three Ships Media in Raleigh, NC as a co-owner. Since 2012, Drew served as the CEO of Larson-Juhl, the world’s largest designer, manufacturer and distributor of custom picture framing products, with 1,300 team members in 16 countries. Larson-Juhl is headquartered in Atlanta and is owned by Berkshire Hathaway.
