C&D Technologies, a producer of standby lead-acid batteries for the telecom and UPS markets, appointed Armand Lauzon as president and chief executive. He started on February 24.

He replaces outgoing CEO Christian Rheault.

For the past 13 years he has been a chief executive and board member for three portfolio companies of the Carlyle Group, one of the largest private equity firms with $200+ billion in assets.

He was most recently CEO of Sequa Corporation, a current portfolio company of Carlyle, that was taken private in 2007 with three operating units: Chromalloy (a supplier of technologically advanced repairs for the aerospace industry), Precoat Metals (largest independent metal coil coater in North America), and Sequa Automotive Group (manufacturer of inflators and sensors, sold in late 2012).

He became a board member at Sequa in 2007, took over as the acting COO in July 2008, and then became chief executive in December 2008 of this global $2 billion plus group of companies with operations in 15+ countries.
Before Sequa, Armand was executive chairman and CEO of JM Steel Group, the largest independent steel tubular manufacturer in North America. JM Steel was formed in 2005 and 2006 through a series of private to private transactions that included the John Maneely Company, Atlas Tube, and Sharon Tube.

He assumed a board seat in 2005 and transitioned into the CEO position five months post-acquisition. From the time of purchase to exit, the company increased sales by 3x and EBITDA by 4x, and reduced working capital by 50%.
Armand’s first work with Carlyle was at Firth Rixon, which was taken private and merged with Forged Metal in 2002, and then merged in 2004 with Schlosser Forge to manufacture seamless and welded rings, die forgings, extrusions, and metal ingot. He was recruited to be the CEO upon Carlyle’s acquisition of this $400 million business with eight facilities in three countries, and 800 employees.

Armand joined The Carlyle Group from Precision Castparts Corporation, a leader in structural investment castings, forged components and airfoil castings for aircraft engines.

At Precision Castparts he led both the investment casting and forging related businesses including working as president, Wyman Gordon, a $500 million subsidiary of PCC that manufactures forged metal components for gas turbine, aircraft and medical industries. He had full P&L responsibility for 10 manufacturing plants, plus sales, marketing, materials, finance and human resources, with 2,500 employees worldwide.

arlier in his career, Armand held a variety of operations positions with General Electric (Aircraft Engine Division), Textron Lycoming and Fairview Machine Company, a specialized manufacturer of precision components and assemblies for the medical and aerospace industries.

“Armand’s experience in growing successful companies is a perfect fit for the next stage of C&D,” said David Treadwell, chairman of C&D Technologies.