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Babcock & Wilcox Announces Management Transition

Posted November 19, 2018

New Management Team is Focused on Enhancing Shareholder Value

Kenny Young Appointed Chief Executive Officer

Lou Salamone Appointed Executive Vice President of Finance

Henry E. Bartoli Appointed Chief Strategy Officer, Remains a Director

(BARBERTON, Ohio – November 19, 2018) – Babcock & Wilcox Enterprises, Inc. (“B&W”) (NYSE:BW) announced today that Kenny Young has been appointed Chief Executive Officer of the Company, effective immediately. Leslie Kass, who has served as Chief Executive Officer since February 2018, is leaving B&W to pursue other opportunities.  Additionally, B&W announced Lou Salamone has been appointed to serve as Executive Vice President of Finance and with the expectation that he will transition to the role of Chief Financial Officer in the near term. B&W also announced that Henry E. Bartoli will serve as Chief Strategy Officer and will remain a member of the Board of Directors as a non-independent director.  Robert Caruso will continue to serve as Chief Implementation Officer.

The executive changes put in place a proven leadership team with a combination of turnaround expertise and power industry experience and are intended to unlock value from B&W’s various segments and lead to increased shareholder returns.  The new management team has been granted equity awards that begin to vest when the price of B&W’s common stock reaches $2.25 per share.     

“We thank Leslie for her efforts in reshaping the Company’s various segments, accelerating the exit of a difficult European construction business, and relocating the corporate headquarters.  We appreciate her support during this transition and wish her the best in her new endeavors,” said Matt Avril, Chairman of the B&W Board of Directors.  

“This is the next step in the Board’s efforts to increase equity value for all of our shareholders.  Kenny and Lou led the successful turnaround at LCC International, a global telecom engineering and infrastructure services company, and we look forward to their contributions at Babcock & Wilcox,” added Mr. Avril.  “Combined with Henry’s extensive industry experience, this new leadership team is intended to help the Company leverage its broad capabilities while driving efforts to achieve improved financial performance for all of our stakeholders.”

“Babcock & Wilcox, through its employees and subsidiaries, has created tremendous brand equity and a unique market position.  Unlocking our products and technical expertise, within each of our operational brands and segments, creates a competitive differentiation.  I am excited to step into the role of Chief Executive Officer,” said Mr. Young.  “I look forward to working closely with our customers and employees in support of their efforts to drive and enhance product quality, improve our operational capabilities and create incremental value for our customers through higher levels of technology and performance. Henry, Lou and I have a great opportunity to leverage our financial and industry experience and are motivated to strengthen our business and generate greater returns for our shareholders.”

In the newly created position of Chief Strategy Officer, Mr. Bartoli will advise the senior management team and oversee the execution of market and operational strategies across the Company. 

About Kenny Young

Mr. Young has more than 30 years of operational, financial, marketing and executive leadership experience. He currently serves as President of B. Riley Financial, Inc. and Chief Executive Officer of B. Riley Principal Investments, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of B. Riley Financial. Previously, he served for seven years as President and Chief Executive Officer of LCC International, Inc. In this role, he led a turnaround through various cost reductions and market expansions that yielded significant top and bottom line performance improvements. 

About Lou Salamone

Mr. Salamone has more than 25 years of experience as a chief financial officer of diversified public companies such as Nextel Communications, Applied Graphics Technologies and LCC International, Inc.; as well as with private equity-backed companies such as USi, GXS and, most recently, CityMD. Mr. Salamone was previously a partner at Deloitte & Touche. 

About Henry E. Bartoli

Mr. Bartoli has more than 35 years of experience in all aspects of the global power industry. Most recently, Mr. Bartoli served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Hitachi Power Systems America, Ltd. Previously, Mr. Bartoli held senior executive corporate positions at The Shaw Group, Foster Wheeler Corp., and Burns and Roe Enterprises, Inc. 

Investor Call

The Company expects to host an investor call with the new management team on November 26, 2018, with call details to be issued later this week.  

About B&W  

Headquartered in Barberton, Ohio, Babcock & Wilcox is a global leader in energy and environmental technologies and services for the power and industrial markets. Follow us on Twitter @BabcockWilcox

Forward-Looking Statements

B&W cautions that this release contains forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, statements relating to our strategic objectives; our business execution model; management’s expectations regarding the industries in which we operate; our guidance and forecasts; our projected operating margin improvements, savings and restructuring costs; covenant compliance; and project execution. These forward-looking statements are based on management’s current expectations and involve a number of risks and uncertainties, including, among other things, our ability to continue as a going concern; our ability to obtain and maintain sufficient financing to provide liquidity to meet our business objectives, surety bonds, letters of credit and similar financing; our ability to satisfy the liquidity and other requirements under U.S. revolving credit facility as recently amended, including our ability to receive concessions from customers on our Renewable energy loss contracts; the highly competitive nature of our businesses; general economic and business conditions, including changes in interest rates and currency exchange rates; general developments in the industries in which we are involved; cancellations of and adjustments to backlog and the resulting impact from using backlog as an indicator of future earnings; our ability to perform contracts on time and on budget, in accordance with the schedules and terms established by the applicable contracts with customers; failure by third-party subcontractors, joint venture partners or suppliers to perform their obligations on time and as specified; our ability to realize anticipated savings and operational benefits from our restructuring plans, and other cost-savings initiatives; our ability to successfully address productivity and schedule issues in our Renewable segment, including the ability to complete our Renewable energy projects within the expected time frame and the estimated costs; our ability to successfully partner with third parties to win and execute renewable contracts; changes in our effective tax rate and tax positions; our ability to maintain operational support for our information systems against service outages and data corruption, as well as protection against cyber-based network security breaches and theft of data; our ability to protect our intellectual property and renew licenses to use intellectual property of third parties; our use of the percentage-of-completion method of accounting; our ability to successfully manage research and development projects and costs, including our efforts to successfully develop and commercialize new technologies and products; the operating risks normally incident to our lines of business, including professional liability, product liability, warranty and other claims against us; changes in, or our failure or inability to comply with, laws and government regulations; actual or anticipated changes in governmental regulation, including trade and tariff policies; difficulties we may encounter in obtaining regulatory or other necessary permits or approvals; changes in, and liabilities relating to, existing or future environmental regulatory matters; changes in actuarial assumptions and market fluctuations that affect our net pension liabilities and income; potential violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act; our ability to successfully compete with current and future competitors; the loss of key personnel and the continued availability of qualified personnel; our ability to negotiate and maintain good relationships with labor unions; changes in pension and medical expenses associated with our retirement benefit programs; social, political, competitive and economic situations in foreign countries where we do business or seek new business; the possibilities of war, other armed conflicts or terrorist attacks; and the willingness of customers and suppliers to continue to do business with us on reasonable terms and conditions. If one or more of these risks or other risks materialize, actual results may vary materially from those expressed. For a more complete discussion of these and other risk factors, see B&W’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our most recent annual report on Form 10-K and subsequent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. B&W cautions not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this release, and undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, except to the extent required by applicable law.


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