Honeywell has announced that Vimal Kapur, the company’s President and COO, will succeed Darius Adamczyk as CEO on June 1, 2023, with Adamczyk continuing to serve as Executive Chairman. The company described the move as a “thoughtful succession plan” that would position it for “seamless leadership transition.” Kapur was appointed to Honeywell’s board of directors effective March 13, 2023.
Adamczyk said Kapur’s deep knowledge about Honeywell businesses, end markets, and customer needs, along with his ability to drive strategic initiatives, would enable him to lead the company to the next level of growth and performance. Honeywell’s sustainability technologies would help customers achieve their goals under Kapur’s leadership, he added. Kapur said he was proud and humbled to take on the CEO role of the company, which he described as “playing a major role in making the world a better place.”
Kapur, 57, was named President and COO in July 2022 and has been leading the creation of new solutions to help customers drive their sustainability transformations and accelerate their digital journeys. As COO, he has also overseen the continued integration of Honeywell Accelerator across the organization and furthered its adoption as an operational system.
Prior to his role as COO, Kapur served as President and CEO of Honeywell’s Performance Materials and Technologies (PMT) division, an $11 billion global leader in the development of high-performance products and solutions. Under Kapur’s leadership, the business drove rapid growth in its sustainability portfolio, including in circularity, energy evolution, environmental transformation, resiliency, and accountability. This included launching innovative technologies and partnerships with plastics recycling partners and introducing large-scale renewable energy storage for wind and solar usage.
Before leading PMT, Kapur served as President and CEO of Honeywell Building Technologies (HBT), a $6 billion global leader in building technology offerings. Under Kapur’s leadership, the HBT business successfully launched the Healthy Building portfolio and expanded margins by around 200 basis points over three years.
Before leading HBT, Kapur held the role of President of Honeywell Process Solutions, where he successfully led the business through the oil and gas downturn, increasing sales by 6 per cent, expanding margins by over 400 basis points, and growing cash margins by 860 basis points to over 17 per cent over a three-year period. Prior to that, Kapur was Vice President and General Manager of the Advanced Solutions line of business, where he built the foundation of an outcome-driven software business and successfully integrated the Matrikon acquisition into Honeywell. He has also held several other leadership positions, including Managing Director for Honeywell Automation India Limited. Kapur graduated from the Thapar Institute of Engineering in Patiala, India, as an electronics engineer with a specialisation in instrumentation.
The announcement of Kapur’s appointment came after Honeywell reported solid fourth-quarter 2022 earnings, with adjusted earnings per share of $2.25 and sales of $11.2 billion, beating analysts’ estimates. The company expects sales in 2023 to grow between 4 per cent and 6 per cent, with organic sales growth of between 3 per cent and 5 per cent.
In his role as Executive Chairman, Adamczyk will be focused primarily on supporting customer relationships, business development, and enterprise strategic planning, shaping the portfolio and global government relations.