3M Elevates Company Veteran to CEO as Thulin Shifts to New Role

(Bloomberg) -- 3M Co. said company veteran Michael Roman will become its new chief executive officer, succeeding Inge Thulin later this year.

Thulin will move to the newly created position of executive chairman as of July 1, the maker of Post-it Notes said Monday in a statement. Roman's appointment comes less than a year after he was named chief operating officer -- a move then seen as putting him in the running for the CEO job.

The new leader has “an excellent track record of growing sales, improving operational efficiency and increasing value across a wide range of global businesses,” Thulin, 64, said in the statement.

Roman, 58, will look to maintain the momentum built up under his predecessor, who reshaped 3M's portfolio around growth markets while boosting profit margins and overhauling company culture. The shares have surged 165 percent since Thulin was named CEO in February 2012, outpacing the 102 percent gain in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index.

3M was little changed in late trading Monday.

Thulin has taken a more aggressive stance on deal-making in recent years, leading 3M through its largest-ever acquisitions, including the purchases of Capital Safety and Scott Safety. The outgoing CEO is “very practical and proven,” Scott Davis, an analyst with Melius Research, said last month in a note.

In the new role, Thulin, who has been chairman since 2012, will continue to lead the board and will work closely with Roman on “longer-term strategic initiatives,” 3M said.

Roman has held a number of roles during his three-decade tenure at the St. Paul, Minnesota-based company. Before becoming operating chief, he led the industrial division. Prior to that he was 3M's chief strategist. Roman has a master's degree in electrical engineering from the University of Southern California.

To contact the reporter on this story: Richard Clough in New York at rclough9@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Brendan Case at bcase4@bloomberg.net, Susan Warren

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