MILTON, Ga. – Exide Technologies, a global leader in lead-acid battery manufacturing and recycling, has appointed two new executives to lead the company’s efforts to upgrade its Vernon, Calif. recycling facility.
The company has named Thomas Strang as its vice president, environment health & safety – Americas, and Charles Giesige as vice president of recycling operations – Americas.
Strang is responsible for developing and managing regulatory compliance programs at the Vernon operation and other Exide locations. He also is overseeing the upgrades for the company’s Vernon recycling facility. He joined Exide on May 5.
Giesige, who joins the company on June 16, will lead strategic oversight and operations of the Exide Americas recycling division, including management of plant purchasing, productivity, quality and logistics functions. In coordination with Strang, Giesige will develop policies and programs to enhance environmental compliance.
"Tom and Chuck will drive a strong health and safety vision and culture at Exide," said Robert Caruso, president and CEO of Exide Technologies. "They bring fresh perspectives and high levels of expertise to lead our efforts to upgrade our Vernon facility."
Strang and Giesige bring to Exide more than 60 years of combined environmental, safety and health and plant operations experience.
Strang has a successful history in managing environmental remediation, implementing best practices and working collaboratively with diverse communities. Prior to joining Exide, he served as the vice president of environment health and safety, regulatory affairs and manufacturing excellence for Chemtura Corp., where he developed and instilled the company’s safety culture globally. He held a similar role at Hercules Chemical, serving in a number of engineering, supply chain and plant manager capacities. Strang has a bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering from Purdue University and an MBA from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
"The Exide Vernon facility is one of only two battery recycling plants west of the Rockies and plays an important role in California’s green economy. Not only are we focused on completing the $5 million in improvements that will make this recycling center a premier facility, we’re helping to ensure the health and safety of our employees and local residents. We look forward to resuming our operations and getting our employees back to work as soon as the project is completed and tested."
Giesige has experience with battery manufacturing going back more than three decades, and has held senior management positions at a number of global companies, most recently as vice president of corporate development for Columbus McKinnon Corp. He also served as vice president and general manager for the Dynasty Division and Power Systems Division of C&D Technologies. Prior to that, he was vice president and general manager of the Specialty Battery/Dynasty Division of Johnson Controls, which was later acquired by C&D Technologies. He earned a bachelor of science degree in accounting from The Ohio State University and an MBA from the University of Wisconsin.
