Kadant Maps Out a CEO Handover Step by Patient Step

Posted on in Leadership

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Some companies change leaders in a weekend. Kadant prefers a calendar. On September 10, 2026, the Westford, Massachusetts, industrial technology company announced a CEO succession plan adopted by its board that unfolds over more than a year, with each role change scheduled well in advance.

The timetable

  • October 1, 2026: Michael C. Colwell becomes president and chief operating officer.
  • January 2, 2027: Colwell becomes president, CEO and a director; Jeffrey L. Powell hands over the CEO role and becomes executive chairman; chairman Jonathan W. Painter leaves the board.
  • January 1, 2028: Powell is expected to retire from executive duties and stay on as non-executive director and chairman.

As executive chairman, Powell will spend roughly a year after the handover working on strategic planning, acquisitions, operational consulting and corporate governance. It is the corporate version of teaching someone to drive by sitting in the passenger seat rather than handing over the keys and walking away.

An insider with a builder's background

Colwell is a home-grown choice. He has been a senior vice president since December 2024, leads the Industrial Processing segment and has overseen the wood processing and fiber-based products businesses. Before that he ran Kadant Carmanah Design, which makes equipment for the oriented strand board industry, and earlier was president and CEO of Carmanah Design and Manufacturing until Kadant bought it in 2013. Powell, who has served Kadant for more than 18 years, said the board made an outstanding choice. Painter, chairman for the past seven years, called Colwell well qualified to keep driving growth.

The plan also closes a long partnership at the top: Powell and Painter have worked together since the 1980s at Kadant's former parent, Thermo Electron. For a company of about 4,000 employees in 22 countries, the message is clear. Leadership change does not have to be dramatic to be meaningful, and sometimes the most boring announcement is the most reassuring one.