DUBLIN – Eaton Corp. plc today announced that former Cooper Industries plc directors Linda Hill and Gerald Smith have joined the company’s board. The appointments were effective upon the Nov. 30 close of the acquisition.
“Gerald and Linda add valuable perspectives to our board through their extensive and diverse backgrounds,” said Alexander Cutler, Eaton chairman and CEO. “Their experience and insight will benefit Eaton as we continue to accelerate our growth as a global integrated power management company.”
Hill served as a director of Cooper Industries plc since 1994. She is the Wallace Brett Donham Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School, the faculty chair of the Leadership Initiative and has chaired numerous HBS Executive Education programs. She is a member of the board of directors of State Street Corp. and Harvard Business Publishing. She is also a trustee of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund USA, The Bridgespan Group and Bryn Mawr College. Hill is on the Advisory Board of the Aspen Institute Business and Society Program.
Smith served as lead independent director of Cooper Industries plc and had been a director of the company since 2000. He is chairman and CEO of Smith Graham & Company, an investment management firm he founded in 1990. Prior to launching Smith Graham, he served as senior vice president and director of fixed income for Underwood Neuhaus & Co. He is a member of the board of trustees and chair of the Investment Oversight Committee for The Charles Schwab Family of Funds and board of directors of New York Life Insurance Co., ONEOK Inc. and ONEOK Partners MLP. He is a director of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, Houston Branch and serves as chairman of the Texas Southern University Foundation.
