Emerson names replacement as CEO Farr retires
3rd February 2021
USA: Lal Karsanbhai has been named as the new CEO at Emerson to replace David N Farr, who is retiring on February 5.
Karsanbhai is currently executive president of the company’s Automation Solutions business since 2018.
Farr, who was named CEO in 2000 and chairman of Emerson’s board of directors in 2004, will remain as chairman until May 4. He was just the third CEO of the $16.8bn global company in the last 66 years.
Clemens A H Boersig, lead independent director of Emerson’s board, said of Farr: “David is a tremendous leader who has brought the company through difficult times – 9/11, the dot-com bubble, the Great Recession and now a global pandemic – with conviction and an unwavering belief in the strength of Emerson.”
Under Farr’s leadership, Emerson has transformed from a components manufacturing company to an industrial software leader. Farr built on the company’s longstanding disciplined management strategy, making it one of the few companies to increase its dividend to shareholders for 64 consecutive years.
Additionally, Farr has been a fierce champion and sought-after voice for manufacturing. He served as chairman of the board of the National Association of Manufacturers from 2017 to 2019, working on Capitol Hill to advocate and advance initiatives that would build industry in the United States.
Farr serves on the board of directors for the US-China Business Council and has been a member of the board of directors of IBM since 2012.
Farr joined Emerson in 1981 in a corporate staff position and progressed through corporate and business unit management positions with increasing responsibility before being appointed president of Emerson’s Asia-Pacific operations in 1993. After four years in Hong Kong, Farr returned to the US in 1997 to oversee Emerson’s process control business. He was appointed chief operating officer in 1999, a position he held until being named CEO.
Karsanbhai began his career at Emerson in 1995 as an international planner. He was appointed director of corporate planning in 1999, served as vice president of regulator technologies from 2002 to 2005, when he became vice president and general manager of natural gas for Emerson in France. He was named president of Emerson’s Fisher regulator technologies in 2008, a role he held until 2012, when he became vice president of planning with responsibility for Emerson’s global strategy. He was named president of Emerson’s former Network Power business in Europe, Middle East and Africa in 2014 and became group president of Emerson’s Rosemount measurement & analytical business in 2016.
During his tenure at Emerson, Karsanbhai has worked in Europe, Africa and North America.
