Since replacing former CEO Jim Loree in 2022, Donald Allan Jr. has led Stanley Black & Decker through some turbulent times in recent years, including a $2 billion cost-cutting effort in response to high inflation, slowing demand and a desire to simplify and streamline operations.
The New Britain tool-making giant announced last March it was closing manufacturing facilities in South Carolina and Texas, and reducing its overall employment headcount.
In December, the company announced it would be selling its attachment and handheld hydraulic tools business, STANLEY Infrastructure, to a Swedish firm for $760 million. It has sold off other businesses in recent years, and closed its downtown Hartford innovation center.
While he only became CEO a few years ago, Allan is a familiar name within the company and Greater Hartford’s business community. He first joined Stanley in 1999, and worked his way up the corporate ladder, eventually to president and chief financial officer before being named CEO.
A year ago, Allan was named board chair of the University of Hartford’s board of regents, a key post as the private college searches for a new president following recent financial struggles. Allan earned his accounting degree at UHart in 1986.
Allan is also a lead director at window and door manufacturer Anderson Corp., a member of the Business Roundtable and a board member of Hartford HealthCare. He serves on several nonprofit boards, including Junior Achievement of Southwest New England, Boy Scouts Connecticut Rivers Council and AdvanceCT, the state’s private nonprofit economic development organization.