KKR completes acquisition of Industrial Physics

Industrial Physics, packaging, product and material test and inspection provider, has announced the appointment of Barry Lyon to chief executive officer (CEO), and Lance Reisman to the role of chairman of the board. Barry succeeds Jim Neville, who has led the Company since 2016. The announcement follows news that the company’s acquisition by investment funds managed by KKR from Union Park Capital (UPC) was completed on 19 July 2023.

Lyon joins Industrial Physics after over fifteen years with Danaher Corporation, including more than five years leading large global businesses in the test and measurement industry. Most recently, Lyon served as the president of microbiology for Beckman Coulter, a global clinical diagnostics company and Danaher operating company. Before then, he was president of Sea-Bird Scientific, a market leading provider of instrumentation utilised in ocean research. Lyon also spent nearly eight years in various roles at Hach, a global leader in water quality testing instrumentation, where he worked closely with Lance. Lyon’s strong track record of driving accelerated growth and operational excellence makes him well positioned to lead Industrial Physics in its next chapter.

“I am honoured to join Industrial Physics and work alongside Lance and the rest of the talented team at Industrial Physics,” said Barry Lyon. “Industrial Physics has created an impressive global portfolio of leading brands and I am excited to build upon this foundation to better serve our customers and drive future growth, both organically and through acquisitions. I am enthused to work with KKR as a strategic partner and to lead the roll out of a broad-based equity plan in which all Industrial Physics colleagues will become owners of the business.”   

Reisman is an executive advisor to KKR and currently serves as a board director at Flow Control Group and as chairman of the board at GeoStabilization International. Reisman previously worked at Danaher, most recently as group executive and vice president, responsible for Danaher’s Water Quality Platform. In this role, Reisman led holistic operational and commercial transformations and executed a number of strategic acquisitions. Earlier, he spent six years in various senior leadership roles at Hach, ultimately leading the business as president.

“I am thrilled to join the Board of Industrial Physics and look forward to working with Barry and this talented team to achieve a new phase of growth and innovation,” said Lance Reisman. “Barry is a dynamic and passionate business leader with a strong track record. His leadership and business acumen, combined with Industrial Physics’ leading portfolio of products, services and technical capabilities, will help the company to realise its full potential as a leading specialised testing and measurement partner across a wide range of industries and geographies.”

KKR plans to support Industrial Physics in implementing a broad-based employee ownership program, which will give employees the opportunity to participate in the benefits of ownership of the company. This strategy is based on the belief that employee engagement is a key driver in building stronger companies. Since 2011, KKR has awarded billions of dollars of total equity value to over 60,000 non-management employees across over 30 companies. Last year, KKR joined more than 20 organisations in becoming a founding partner of Ownership Works, a nonprofit created to support public and private companies transitioning to shared ownership models.

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