Birmingham, Ohio & Kolding, Denmark, June 5, 2023 – The KKR backed food processing automation platform that today includes Bettcher Industries (“Bettcher”) and Frontmatec announced that Massimo Bizzi has been appointed Chief Executive Officer. Josh Stiever and Allan Kristensen will continue in their roles as President of Bettcher and CEO of Frontmatec, with both now reporting into Mr. Bizzi.
Dan Daniel, Chairman of Bettcher and Executive Advisor to KKR, said, “Massimo’s leadership and growth mindset, combined with Bettcher and Frontmatec’s technical capabilities, will help us continue to unlock value for our customers, employees and other stakeholders. I am thrilled to work with Massimo and all of the employee owners at Bettcher and Frontmatec to continue driving growth and innovation for our customers as we build the industry’s leading food processing automation platform.”
Mr. Bizzi joins Bettcher and Frontmatec after nearly 20 years of industrial manufacturing experience, including more than 10 years leading multinational businesses across a wide range of end markets in Europe, the U.S., the Middle East, and Asia. He previously held multiple roles at John Zink and Koch-Glitsch, before serving most recently as President and Chief Operating Officer at Howden. Massimo’s rich track record of commercial acceleration and global operational experience will be critical to Bettcher and Frontmatec’s future success.
“It is an honor to join this organization and work alongside Dan and the KKR team to build the industry’s leading food processing automation platform. I look forward to serving as the CEO of this organization, which today has two leaders in the protein processing and automation space,” says Massimo Bizzi. “We have an incredible opportunity to grow these businesses and expand our presence in other segments, while continuing to help our customers enhance labor productivity, generate better yield, and improve worker safety. I am truly excited to partner with the rest of the leadership team and all employees to build on our strong customer relationships and culture of innovation, as we add new capabilities and growth vectors through acquisitions of complementary businesses.”