Board of Directors

William D. Gehl who currently serves as the Chairman of the Board of Astec Industries, also previously served as a member of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Gehl Company, a company engaged in the manufacturing of compact construction equipment, from 1987 and 1992, respectively, until his retirement in 2009. Mr. Gehl also served as Chairman of the Board of Gehl Company from 1996 until his retirement. Since June 2011, Mr. Gehl has been an owner and Chairman of IBD of Southeastern Wisconsin, an exclusive distributor of Interstate Batteries in southeastern Wisconsin. Mr. Gehl also serves as Chairman of the Board and a Director of FreightCar America, a public company engaged in the manufacturing of railroad freight cars. Mr. Gehl is a member of the state bars of Wisconsin and Florida. Mr. Gehl has been a Director of the Company since 1999.

Mr. Gehl, having served as the CEO of a publicly owned construction equipment manufacturing company for 17 years, brings a broad range of experiences in both strategic planning and management. Mr. Gehl’s manufacturing, marketing and financing knowledge is very valuable to the Company.

Age: 76

James Baker has been a Managing Partner of River Associates Investments, LLC and predecessor entities, a private equity investment fund which partners with management teams in buyouts, divestitures and recapitalizations of lower middle market companies since 2001. From 1993 to 2001, he was a Partner in River Associates, LLC. Mr. Baker was President and Chief Operating Officer (1991-1992) and Senior Vice President (1987-1991) of CONSTAR International, Inc., a plastics container manufacturer. Mr. Baker also formerly served as a director of Wellman, Inc. and US Xpress. Mr. Baker has been a director of the Company since 2010.

Mr. Baker’s strong background in all aspects of executing acquisitions, both in the U.S. and internationally, are valuable to the Company. He also has over 31 years of experience in strategic planning and operating decisions for middle market companies in a variety of industries. Mr. Baker, who serves as one of the financial experts of the Company’s Audit Committee, has a financial background and has had a wide range of experience in financial reporting for publicly-owned companies. He has served as an independent director on the audit committees of two public companies, had primary responsibility for the financial reporting of a public company and also worked with several public companies during his career with Arthur Andersen & Co.

Age: 77

Tracey H. Cook has been a Vice President, Strategic Human Resources Business Partner of Fluor since March 2023.  She was Vice President of Strategic Development of Flour and President of AMECO from 2014 to 2023. Fluor is a Fortune 500 engineering and construction company and AMECO offerings include construction equipment, tools and scaffolding solutions. Ms. Cook joined Fluor Corporation in 1989 and, beginning in 2001, served as AMECO’s Chief Financial Officer, VP of Regional Operations for North America/Caribbean and Chief Operations Office for the business globally before becoming its President in 2014. Prior to 2001, she worked in finance on multiple projects with various industry groups in addition to new business and e-commerce initiatives for Fluor. She then transferred to AMECO where she was instrumental in divesting the North American commercial equipment dealerships in 2001. She has a B.S. in Accounting from the University of South Carolina and has completed several executive management and leadership programs including Wharton and Thunderbird. Ms. Cook has been a director of the Company since 2018.

Ms. Cook brings nearly 31 years of experience in optimizing operations, finance, international business and the construction equipment industry. As a leader at a Fortune 500 engineering and construction company, Ms. Cook is uniquely qualified to provide relevant expertise that is very valuable to the Company as it executes its strategy. Ms. Cook serves as one of the financial experts of the Company’s Audit Committee.

Age: 55

Mr. Gliebe is a seasoned, former public-company Chairman and CEO with deep experience in the global manufacturing operations of industrial companies with highly engineered products. Until his retirement in 2019, he served as Chairman and CEO of Regal Beloit Corporation, now Regal Rexnord (NYSE: RRX), a global manufacturer of electrical motors and controls, power generation products and power transmission components. During his eight years as the CEO of Regal Beloit, Mr. Gliebe drove operational excellence from the factory floor up, establishing key performance metrics and aligning incentives. Prior to Mr. Gliebe’s role as CEO, he had served as President and Chief Operating Officer of Regal Beloit from 2005 to 2011. Prior to joining Regal Beloit, he worked at General Electric for 22 years holding various positions of increased responsibility. In addition, Mr. Gliebe has meaningful public and private company governance experience having served on both public and private company boards.

Age: 62

Mary L. Howell has served as Chief Executive Officer of Howell Strategy Group, an international consulting firm, since the firm’s founding in 2010. Previously, Ms. Howell served as Executive Vice President of Textron Inc. from 1995 to 2009. She also served on the Textron Management Committee, which was composed of Textron’s top five executives responsible for the management of the company, for over 15 years. Ms. Howell served as Lead Director of the Board of Directors of Esterline Corporation, an aerospace and defense company until 2018. In addition, she serves on the Board of Vectrus, an industry-leading facilities management, logistics and network communications services company, and is a member of its Audit and Compensation Committees and Chairs the Strategy Committee. In 2008, Ms. Howell received the Charles Ruch Semper Fidelis Award and in 2010 became an Honorary Marine for her long-standing commitment to the U.S. Marine Corps and her leadership in various programs that have supported the Marine Corps mission. She graduated from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst with a Bachelor of Science degree. Ms. Howell has been a director of the Company since 2019.

Ms. Howell has extensive experience in global operations, marketing, sales, business development and merger and acquisition transactions that strengthen the Board’s oversight of the Company’s strategic plans and enterprise risk. Ms. Howell also has significant board experience that has given her insight to sophisticated risk management practices that contributes to the Board’s oversight of the Company’s complex global operations.

Age: 70

Mr. Jain currently serves as President, Digital Electronics at Wabtec Corporation, a role he has held since 2020. Wabtec Corporation is a leading global provider of equipment, systems, digital solutions and value-added services for the freight and transit rail industries, as well as the mining, marine and industrial markets. Prior to his current role, Mr. Jain served as Group President of Wabtec’s Global Equipment business, leading Wabtec’s comprehensive global locomotive, mining, marine, stationery and drill portfolios. Mr. Jain also led GE Transportation’s international business activities in key markets like APAC, China, Australia, Europe and Africa. He was responsible for expanding the business footprint and global capabilities across these regions. He previously served as CEO for GE Aviation and GE Transportation in South Asia. Prior to GE, he was Director of Global Partnerships with Bombardier Inc.  He began his career with the French engineering materials company Saint-Gobain occupying several roles of increasing responsibility.  Mr. Jain has a bachelor's degree in Engineering from National Institute of Technology in Surat, India and an MBA from the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad, India.   Mr. Jain brings over 30 years of global executive leadership experience, including international operations, product management, and commercial expertise, in industrial manufacturing, aerospace and infrastructure sectors.  He has a proven track record of transforming businesses, while delivering top- and bottom-line growth. 

Age: 53

Linda I. Knoll was a long-serving Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) for both Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and CNH Industrial, a global manufacturer of agriculture and construction equipment. She joined Case Corporation in 1994 - after spending more than a decade in supply chain and program management positions at General Dynamics - and beginning in 1999, became General Manager of the global Crop Production business of CNH Industrial. From 2003-2007, Ms. Knoll led manufacturing footprint restructuring/merger integration in North America and then directed the advancement of agricultural industrial operations and product development around the world. She was named CHRO in late 2007. Ms. Knoll was a member of the CNH Industrial Group Executive Council - the senior leadership committee responsible for management of the company - for 15 of her 25 years with the company. Additionally, she was part of the equivalent leadership team of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles for 10 years. A current Director of the Board of Iveco Group NV, she is a member of its ESG Committee and Chairs the Human Capital and Compensation Committee. Knoll is also a Board Director of Schneider Electric SE (since 2014) and serves on its Governance and Remuneration Committee and Chairs the HR and CSR Committee. She is also now an advisor to Exor NV, one of Europe’s largest diversified holding companies. Ms. Knoll is a graduate of Central Michigan University where she studied Business Administration, Economics and Journalism.

Ms. Knoll’s depth of public company leadership experience, her expertise in managing complex manufacturing operations, knowledge of operations of multi-billion-dollar global enterprises, and mergers and acquisitions (including integration) are especially valuable to the Board and the management team.

Age: 62

William Bradley Southern is the current Chairman of the Board of Directors of Louisiana-Pacific (‘‘LP’’), a global leader of high-performance building solutions based in Nashville, Tennessee, where he has also served as Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors since 2017. Mr. Southern joined LP in 1999 and led LP’s siding business from 2005 to 2015 before taking the lead for OSB operations, a position he held until he was named Chief Operating Officer in 2016. Mr. Southern began his career with MacMillan Bloedel as a forester, where he held a variety of jobs in forestry, strategic planning, finance, accounting and plant management. He has a Bachelor of Science and a master’s degree in Forest Resources, both from the University of Georgia. Mr. Southern has been a director of the Company since 2018.

Mr. Southern brings to the Company more than 20 years of experience in the building materials manufacturing industry, including three years as CEO of a high-performance building solutions company. The Company benefits from his strong focus on operational execution and his fresh insights and perspective as the Company continues to execute its strategic plan to accelerate growth, improve profitability and drive shareholder value.

Age: 63

James Winford joined the Astec Industries, Inc. Board of Directors in July 2023.  He currently serves as the President of Prairie Contractors, LLC, a privately-held asphalt producer and highway contractor located in Louisana.  The company specializes in the production and construction of hot-mix asphalt pavements and operates fixed base asphalt plants and aggregate distribution facilities in south central and southwestern Louisiana.  Mr. Winford has a Master of Science degree in Civil Engineering and Master of Business Administration degree, both from Tulane University.  He has a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering with a concentration in Materials and Pavements, from Auburn University.  Mr. Winford serves on the National Asphalt Pavement Association and National Center for Asphalt Technology boards and is past chairperson of each.  

Age: 57

Jaco van der Merwe has served as President and CEO of Astec Industries since January 2023. Mr. van der Merwe joined Astec in 2016 as Group President – Energy and assumed the role of Group President - Infrastructure Solutions in 2019. From 1998 until 2016, he held various leadership positions at Epiroc (formerly part of Atlas Copco) including, among others, Vice President Marketing for the Deephole Drilling group (2013 to 2016) and President/General Manager for the Mining and Rock Excavation Customer Center (2010 to 2013). Mr. van der Merwe’s career with Atlas Copco began as a Quality Manager in 1998. Prior to joining Atlas Copco, he held various positions at Denel Aviation.

Age: 50