Packaging supplier Silgan to get new CEO

STAMFORD — The president of Silgan Holdings will become its next chief executive officer while its CEO will continue as board chairman, the Stamford-based company announced.

The changes at Silgan, one of the largest suppliers of consumer-goods packaging, take effect Sept. 1.

The board of directors appointed President Adam Greenlee as CEO, succeeding Tony Allott, who has held the position since 2006. Allott will continue to serve as chairman, in an executive capacity, after Sept. 1. In the corporate sector, the position of executive chairman is often held by company founders or long-serving CEOs, with the goal of supporting the CEO transition.

“Adam and I have worked closely together on every major activity of Silgan for the past decade and he has been responsible for the oversight of each of our operating businesses in recent years,” Allott said in a statement. “Just as importantly, Adam understands and personifies the unique culture of our company and has consistently shown his ability to deliver results as Silgan has continued on its path of growth and success. While I am sure his leadership will explore new ideas and opportunities, I am equally confident it will be founded on the ideals and principles that have served us so well in the past.”

Greenlee, 48, will be the third CEO since Silgan’s founding in 1987. He will also continue as president. He was named chief operating officer in 2009 and appointed president in 2019.

The Silgan board’s compensation committee last week approved several changes in Greenlee’s compensation including an increase in his annual base salary from $770,808 to $1 million, effective Sept. 1. It also agreed to an increase in Greenlee’s annual cash bonus for 2021, which will total up to 100 percent of his annual base salary received “from and after Sept. 1.”

His annual cash bonus will remain at up to 80 percent of his annual base salary received before Sept. 1. The changes were summarized in a filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Silgan ranks No. 530 on this year’s Fortune 1,000 list, with 2020 sales of nearly $5 billion. Its primary lines of business are dispensing and specialty closures, metal containers and custom containers.

“The company takes great pride in the fact that its products contain some of the world’s best known branded consumer products, including Campbell’s Soup, Del Monte Fruits and Vegetables, Listerine and Friskies Pet Food,” the company says on its website.

About 15,600 people worked for Silgan as of last month, according to the company’s profile on fortune.com.

Silgan operates 109 manufacturing facilities across North and South America, Europe and Asia, including sites in Waterbury and Watertown. Its main offices are in the Landmark Square complex in downtown Stamford.

The company has operated continuously throughout the coronavirus crisis with the support of an “essential” business designation from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The company has said that it has received similar classifications from the vast majority of governmental agencies in other countries in which it operates.

Among major deals in the past couple of years, Silgan announced in June 2020 the completion of its $900 million acquisition of the dispensingparts business of French packaging specialist Albea. Through the deal, the firm added about 2,400 employees to its workforce.

In February 2020, Silgan acquired Macedonia, Ohio-based Cobra Plastics, which manufactures injection-molded plastic closures for consumer products with a focus on aerosol overcaps.

Silgan shares closed Tuesday at about $41. They hit a 52-week high of about $45 and a 52-week low of around $32.