Charles Szews to succeed Bob Bohn as Oshkosh CEO

Oshkosh Corporation, owner of JLG Industries, said Robert Bohn, chairman and chief executive officer (CEO), had decided to retire at the end 2010. He will be succeeded by Charles Szews, the current Oshkosh president and chief operating officer.

Mr Bohn, who has served as CEO for 13 years and chairman for 10 years, will remain on the company's board of directors until the annual shareholders meeting on 1 February 2011. At that time, he will be succeeded as chairman by current board member Richard M Donnelly, who has served on the board since 2001.

Oshkosh says that under Mr Bohn the Corporation has "developed from a $400 million Midwest Company into a multi-billion dollar international corporation and a Fortune 350 Company.

On joining the Company in 1992, Mr Bohn introduced multiple-product manufacturing on a single production line to Oshkosh long before mainstream industry embraced it. He led Oshkosh Corporation to significantly expand its product portfolio and build leading positions in multiple markets. He also was instrumental in guiding the company successfully through the recent global economic downturn to its projected record-setting fiscal 2010 sales and earnings levels."

Mr Szews has been the company's head of new business development, mergers and acquisitions and long-term strategic initiatives. Mr Szews joined Oshkosh in 1996 as chief financial officer, and has served as president and COO since 2007, when he also joined the board. He is said to have been a catalyst in building the company's international footprint, global procurement supply chain and the Oshkosh Operating System.

Future board chairman Mr Donnelly is a former General Motors executive and a former Industrial Partner in the automotive supply practice of a private equity firm. Mr Donnelly said, "The Oshkosh Corporation Board of Directors would like to thank Bob Bohn for his many years of successful leadership, and we wish him well in retirement. Bob is leaving Oshkosh Corporation in the very capable hands of Charlie Szews, who has been an integral part of the Company's success."