Alto-Shaam has announced a series of promotions within its senior leadership team, further strengthening the business as a global leader in the commercial foodservice equipment industry.
Karen Hansen, former chief executive officer (CEO), transitions to chairwoman of the board, while Steve Maahs, former president and chief operating officer, becomes CEO.
Karen and Steve have led the Alto-Sham business since 2006, which was founded and built by their father, Jerry Maahs in 1955. Jerry invented Halo Heat® technology and the original Cook & Hold oven in 1968. Throughout Steve’s leadership, Alto-Shaam has continued to advance the foodservice equipment industry, most recently with the introduction of an entirely new cooking category – multi-cook ovens.
“We have a strong desire to evolve our family business with our third-generation family members, as we continue Jerry’s pioneering legacy,” Steve says. “With these strategic transitions, Alto-Shaam is building a successful private, multi-generational, family company that will create long-term success and opportunity for our customers, employees and partners, as we take on what’s next.”
Additionally, Lucy McQuillan has been promoted to Alto-Shaam president. Formerly chief commercial officer, she has been an expert in the foodservice industry for more than 30 years, with a proven track record of developing and implementing numerous customer excellence programs. Lucy, who has a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Birmingham University in England, has particular expertise in product management, supply chain leadership and sales team development.
“During her time at Alto-Shaam, Lucy has led the creation and implementation of our global commercial leadership team and product management discipline, empowering our growth,” Steve says. “She is now poised to lead the organization through the next stage of our development in line with our strategic objectives.”
While continuing her commercial role within the business, Lucy will also take responsibility for leading Alto-Shaam’s engineering teams. “I’m very proud to be named Alto-Shaam president,” Lucy says. “Working closely with the leadership team, I’m excited to lead the business as we continue our global growth and deliver on our brand promise to our customers.”
In other apppointments, Dan Schaus has been promoted to chief financial officer to help drive and support scalable, long-term growth. Dan brings more than 20 years of financial leadership experience, including financial planning and analysis, accounting and tax, treasury management, risk management, and technology leadership. He joined Alto-Shaam in 2020 as vice president of finance after growing his career as a VP of finance at a leading global manufacturer of engineered mechanical components.
JK Raghavan has been promoted to the newly created role of senior vice president of global supply chain and international manufacturing operations. JK brings extensive operations experience of more than 27 years with Alto-Shaam to his new role.
To learn more about Alto-Shaam, visit www.alto-shaam.com
