There’s a new President and CEO of large grill maker Char-Broil. Parent company W.C. Bradley Co. announced that Thomas Penner would take over the role and report directly to W.C. Bradley Co’s CEO, James Hillenbrand.
During his time at Char-Broil, Tom has provided strong leadership and has a proven track record of performance which makes him the ideal choice to lead the team into the future. We have a shared vision and Tom is capable of taking Char-Broil to the next level.
James Hillenbrand, CEO, W.C. Bradley Co
Thomas Penner joined Char-Broil in 2021 as an Executive Vice President, and has prior experience at companies such as Kohler and SC Johnson.
According to the press release from W.C. Bradley Co, Thomas Penner led initiatives in 2022 contributed to market share growth for Char-Broil. While great for Penner, it’s also interesting that Char-Broil grew their market share in 2022.
It is an honor to be appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of Char-Broil. We have a 75-year history of innovation in outdoor cooking and I am excited about where the company is headed with the strength of our global team. I look forward to where we are going in 2023 and beyond.
Thomas Penner, CEO of Char-Broil
While the statement didn’t include a reason for a changing of the guard, they are added to a long list of outdoor cooking companies with leadership changes. Most of leadership changes stemmed from miscalculating the impact of the pandemic on the industry.
Outdoor Cooking Company Leadership Changes
As we noted above, it hasn’t been good to be an Executive over the past year. To show what we mean, below is a list of all the leadership changes.
- Weber – Changed their whole leadership team
- Char-Broil – Changed their CEO
- Vista Outdoor – Changed their CEO
- Gozney – Changed their CEO
- recteq – Changed their CEO
- Solo Brands – Changed their CFO