🔒After being acquired by private equity firm, Kaman quietly has new leadership team installed, including CEO, CFO

Bloomfield-based aerospace manufacturer Kaman Corp., which was acquired by a private equity firm in April, has quietly installed a new senior leadership team.

Ian Walsh, who was hired as Kaman’s CEO in 2020 and helped orchestrate the company’s sale to Arcline Investment Management, is out, and so are some of his top lieutenants. 

They’ve been replaced by a senior executive team that most recently led Rhode Island aerospace company Quantic Electronics, which is also owned by Arcline, a  Nashville, Tennessee-based private equity firm that lists nearly two dozen companies in its portfolio.

Kaman Corp. did not make an announcement about the leadership shake up. The company also didn’t immediately provide a comment about the leadership changes.

Arcline’s $1.8 billion purchase of Kaman was completed in April. In July, Walsh, who was still CEO at the time, told the Hartford Business Journal that the company had shed about a dozen corporate and administrative staff since the Arcline deal had been completed, and that additional corporate cuts were being finalized.

However, he said the long-term plan was to grow the business by focusing on new technology development and exploring business opportunities with subsidiaries of its new parent company.

Since that interview, Kaman has installed four new senior leaders, including: 

• President and CEO Ross Sealfon. According to his LinkedIn account, he started in his new role this month. Up until then, he was the CEO of Quantic Electronics, a manufacturer that has various business units that make radiofrequency and microwave technology for the aerospace, defense and other industries. 
• Chief Financial Officer Joe Salsbury. According to his LinkedIn account, he started in his new role this month. Up until then, he was Quantic Electronics’ CFO. 
• Senior Vice President of Strategy and Acquisitions Diane Guite Rothkopf, who also started in October and came from Quantic, where she held a similar title, according to her LinkedIn account.
• Chief Growth Officer Jessen Wehrwein. He also started this month and came from Quantic Electronics, where he held the same position.

Kaman also has a relatively new general counsel and corporate secretary, Danny Lee. According to his LinkedIn profile, he was formerly the senior vice president and general counsel at Textron Systems, before joining Kaman in May.