Sicherheit steht an erster Stelle

Karl Fessenden is the president and chief executive officer at BrandSafway. He joined the company in October 2020.

Fessenden has extensive leadership experience in complex service-based businesses, as well as a strong track record of driving commercial and operational excellence in both public and private companies.

Prior to joining BrandSafway, he served as president and chief operating officer of MB Aerospace. Fessenden has also served as CEO of CHC Helicopter and spent 20 years at General Electric (GE) in various roles for GE Aviation and GE Energy, including leading GE’s $8 billion Power Generation Services unit.

He graduated from the University of Vermont with a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering and earned his Master of Science in Management from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute at the Hartford Graduate Center.

Christian Garcia is executive vice president and chief financial officer at BrandSafway. He joined the company in October 2020.

Prior to joining BrandSafway, Garcia was executive vice president and chief financial officer of Weatherford International, an oilfield services company, and served as executive vice president and chief financial officer of Visteon Corporation, a leading provider of automotive cockpit electronics. Previously, Garcia served as acting chief financial officer of Halliburton, a leading energy company, where he progressed through a variety of leadership positions including chief accounting officer, treasurer and senior vice president of investor relations.

He received his Bachelor of Science from the University of the Philippines and his master’s degree in business from Purdue University Krannert School of Management.

Dave Witsken is president of BrandSafway’s Industrial, Energy and Commercial division.

He joined BrandSafway in May 2005 as vice president of sales, marketing and business development. Before stepping into his current role, Witsken was president of Brand International, responsible for running all Brand operations in Europe, the Middle East and Asia as well as industrial operations in Canada.

Prior to joining BrandSafway, Witsken spent more than 17 years at General Electric (GE) in various engineering and management positions, including general manager of its Performance Services division, providing aftermarket upgrades and retrofits for the company’s globally installed turbines and generators. Witsken has global leadership and managerial experience in numerous P&L roles with increasing responsibility.

Witsken earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Cincinnati and a Master of Business Administration from Westminster College.

Steve Wilson is vice president of environmental health and safety for BrandSafway. Since joining the company in April 1993, he has held increasing roles of responsibility in both the U.S. and Canada, including vice president of refining and petrochemical, president of Safway Group Canada, and regional vice president.

With more than 30 years of experience in the scaffold industry, Wilson led BrandSafway's entrance into the Canadian market in 2003, driving growth particularly in the Alberta Oil Sands Region. Previously, he also led all BrandSafway's oil, gas and petrochemical vertical market developments in Houston, Texas, before returning to Canada in 2012 as president of the Canada division of Safway Services.

Art Eunson is president of BrandSafway’s Metro and Infrastructure division.

Before joining BrandSafway in 2018, Eunson spent nearly 25 years with General Electric (GE), holding several senior leadership positions spanning multiple business units. Most recently, Eunson was the general manager for GE’s Onshore Wind Services business, where he was responsible for new product development, operational excellence and overall growth for the global services portfolio.

Eunson was previously president of GE’s Bently Nevada product line. Under his leadership, the business expanded its portfolio to include advanced digital capabilities through both organic and inorganic means, with a strong focus on asset performance management (APM).

Eunson has also held numerous other roles in regional, engineering, project management and overall general management responsibilities across the fossil, nuclear, renewable power generation, and oil and gas industries.

He has a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Pennsylvania State University.

Gabriel McCabe is president of BrandSafway’s International division.

McCabe joined BrandSafway in 2015 as vice president of operating functions, overseeing various areas including safety, supply chain, fleet management and project controls. He has also previously served as a regional vice president for the company.

Prior to joining BrandSafway, McCabe spent more than 20 years at General Electric (GE) in positions of increasing responsibility in engineering and operations. His time at GE included serving as the company’s general manager of global fulfillment operations, where he led the GE global supply chain organization’s $1.2 billion aftermarket business in the industrial, energy, and oil and gas industries.

He has a bachelor’s degree in engineering from Ireland’s University of Limerick and earned his Master of Business Administration from Emory University.

Meg Newman is BrandSafway’s executive vice president and chief people officer. 

Before joining BrandSafway in June 2019, Newman held several roles in human resources at various companies. Most recently, she served as chief human resources officer at Keurig Dr Pepper Inc., leading the $11 billion organization through a large and successful combination of two market leaders. Newman also served as chief people officer for 10 years at branch-based industrial distributor HD Supply, where she led change management efforts during its successful IPO event in 2013. Previously, Newman also spent time at Conseco and Sears in human resources leadership roles.

She has a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Coe College and a master’s degree in social psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Manish Shanbhag has served as BrandSafway’s executive vice president and chief legal officer, chief compliance officer and corporate secretary since joining the company in March 2018.

Prior to joining BrandSafway, Shanbhag served as chief legal officer, chief compliance officer and corporate secretary of Edgewell Personal Care, a public global consumer products company. He has also served in senior legal roles for The Gillette Company, Honeywell and Energizer.

Shanbhag earned a bachelor’s degree from Amherst College and a Juris Doctor (JD) from Columbia University Law School, where he was an editor of the Columbia Law Review. He is also a certified Six Sigma Green Belt.

Brad Cortazzo is vice president of operating functions at BrandSafway. Cortazzo joined BrandSafway in October 2015 as the director of project controls, productivity and quality. He has worked in the scaffold, insulation and paint industry for more than five years.

Prior to joining BrandSafway, Cortazzo spent more than seven years at General Electric (GE) in roles of increasing responsibility across several of the company’s divisions, including Energy, Power Generation Services and Oil & Gas. Cortazzo was also a production supervisor at Corning Glass and served on active duty in the U.S. Army for five years.

Cortazzo earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the United States Military Academy at West Point and a Master of Business Administration from Georgia Tech. He is also a certified project management professional (PMP).

Jay Fisher is chief information officer for BrandSafway. He joined the company in June 2006 as director of information technology.

Prior to joining BrandSafway, Fisher spent more than five years at General Electric (GE) in several information technology leadership roles, in which he primarily focused on enterprise resource planning (ERP) deployment and application support. He has also provided information technology consulting support to several industrial and manufacturing-based businesses. Previously, Fisher has also worked for MetalMaker, BWAY Corporation, Infor, and WMS Gaming.

Fisher earned a bachelor’s degree in business-operations management from the Martin J. Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University.

Jim Rogers is vice president of corporate development and mergers and acquisitions at BrandSafway.

Prior to joining BrandSafway in July 2017, Rogers spent 16 years at Honeywell, first as a director of finance and later as vice president of business development/director of strategy and business development. At Honeywell, he was responsible for managing and executing on mergers and acquisitions of new companies.

Previously, he has also served in increasing leadership roles in finance, up to chief financial officer, at a variety of companies, including Healthy Pet Corp., Thomson Industries, Personna American Safety Razor Company and LSI Industries Inc.

Rogers earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Wright State University and a Master of Business Administration from Xavier University. He is also a certified public accountant (CPA).