Barnhardt Manufacturing Co. has announced that Steve Riddle has been retired as president of its unit NCFI Polyurethanes.
Riddle was named as the foam company’s fourth president in 2007, succeeding Swanson Snow.
Riddle was the first executive officer not part of the founding team in 1964. Riddle is succeeded by Chip Holton, the current director of operations.
“Steve was a bit of an outsider,” said Lewis Barnhardt, president and COO of BMC. “He brought a wave of innovation and change to the company from which we all benefited greatly. Steve’s leadership was a rock anchoring us during the Great Recession; the steady hand guiding the organization through it, getting us to the other side in a better position in the markets we serve. I speak for the entire Barnhardt family when I thank Steve, and congratulate him on his highly successful and constant leadership.”
Riddle is a graduate of Georgia Tech, and University of Pittsburgh. He worked in R&D and as a market manager with Mobay Chemical (now Bayer), and transitioned into sales with NCFI (then North Carolina Foam Industries) in 1999.