MARIETTA, Ohio—May 25, 2021—Caron Products and Services (“Caron”), a leading provider of laboratory equipment used in small and large molecule drug development and manufacturing, cell and gene therapy, and academic research, is pleased to announce Jay Hexamer as its new President and CEO, effective June 1, 2021. He will succeed Steve Keiser, who has been President and CEO of Caron for over 15 years and will remain an active Board Member and shareholder.
Hexamer is an accomplished executive in the laboratory products and life sciences sector with outstanding leadership experience and an impressive record of success growing and improving the market position and performance of companies through focused business strategies and acquisitions. Most recently, he was a Senior Vice President at Avantor, overseeing three businesses with over $600 million in revenue and 200 employees that serve the Education & Medical Research (E&MR), Healthcare, and Government sectors. During his tenure as SVP, Hexamer oversaw tremendous growth in his divisions and built a lasting team, competitive product portfolio and high-performing sales and marketing infrastructure. Previously, Hexamer held leadership positions at Kimberly-Clark and Cardinal Health.
“I am very pleased that Jay accepted the CEO position at Caron,” said Keiser. “Jay’s leadership abilities and experiences are the perfect fit for the company. With Jay onboard, I will focus my time and energy on supporting Jay and the Caron team to drive product innovation, pursue acquisitions and advance other strategic initiatives. I am confident that the combination of Jay’s leadership, Caron’s culture of innovation, and SFW’s financial and strategic resources will enable the company to reach even greater heights of performance and quality.”
“I have admired Caron for a long time,” said Hexamer. “As I have gotten to know the business more, I have been impressed by Steve and the rest of the Caron management team. I commend them on building a strong business with a great employee culture, market-leading products, blue-chip customer base, and a reputation for innovation and quality. I look forward to leading Caron as we continue to deliver differentiated solutions and excellent service to our customers, maintain our strong relationship with our channel partners, and offer greater opportunities for growth to our employees.”
“We are delighted to welcome Jay to Caron,” added Ahmad Sheikh, Board Member at Caron and Partner at SFW Capital Partners. “His experience driving growth at several global lab products businesses will be tremendously valuable as Caron continues to scale through expansion of its product portfolio, enhancement of its sales and marketing, and pursuit of acquisitions.”
About Caron Products and Services
Founded in 1985 in Marietta, OH, Caron is a leading provider of laboratory equipment used in small and large molecule drug development and manufacturing, cell and gene therapy, and academic research. Caron’s products, which include environmental testing chambers, incubators and growth chambers, are used for FDA-required QA/QC stability testing during drug development and manufacturing, incubation in clean-room environments, and growth of samples in academic research. Caron sells its products to a diverse range of customers in the biopharmaceutical, biotechnology, outsourced pharmaceutical services, consumer products, and academic industries, among others. For more information, visit www.caronproducts.com.
About SFW Capital Partners, LP
SFW Capital Partners is a specialized private equity firm that invests in leading Information, Software, Industrial and Healthcare Technology companies. These companies, which include providers of instrumentation, laboratory products, software/information and related solutions, provide a high return on investment to their customers and can serve a wide variety of end-markets. Our principals’ 25+ years of investing in and experience with relevant business models, technologies, competitive dynamics and service requirements gives us confidence in our ability to support management teams in growing their companies and building value. For more information, visit www.sfwcap.com.
