Ingersoll Rand Appoints Elizabeth Meloy Hepding, Kate Keene to Executive Leadership Positions

Ingersoll Rand Inc. has named Elizabeth “Liz” Meloy Hepding as vice president of business development, and promoted Kate Keene to senior vice president of human resources, talent, and diversity, equity and inclusion. Both Hepding and Keene will report to Vicente Reynal, president and CEO of Ingersoll Rand, as part of his executive leadership team and be based in Davidson, N.C.

As senior vice president of business development, Hepding will oversee business development strategy, sourcing, execution, and integration, including mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, restructurings, joint ventures and strategic partnerships. Her appointment will be effective July 19 and she will relocate from Chicago to Davidson, N.C.

With more than 20 years of strategy, M&A and corporate development experience, Hepding joins Ingersoll Rand from PurposeBuilt Brands where she served as vice president of corporate development since 2019 and guided the company’s expansion through acquisitions. Prior to that, she was senior vice president, strategy and corporate development at Essendant Inc., where she was responsible for all acquisitions, divestitures and partnerships, and led the execution of Essendant’s sale to Staples. She began her career in investment banking, spending more than a decade in the industry, primarily at UBS Investment Bank where she held roles of increasing responsibility.

“Liz’s vast experience in business development strategy and M&A, with expertise in target identification, pipeline generation and negotiations, combined with her broad industry experience across many sectors including industrial manufacturing makes her a strong fit for Ingersoll Rand,” Reynal said.

Effective immediately, Keene will lead the global strategy for all human resources, talent and organization capability, and diversity, equity and inclusion for Ingersoll Rand. She will serve as a key member of the executive management team, and will provide counsel to the executive team on important matters such as organizational design and talent decisions. She succeeds Craig Mundy who is retiring in early 2022 after 15 years with the company to spend time with family and focus on his national and community board appointments. Mundy will help with the transition and special projects until his retirement.

In her most recent role, Keene served as an HR business partner for the company’s global Precision and Science Technologies segment as well as led the North America region HR team. She joined Ingersoll Rand in 2016 as director of HR for corporate functions and then led a global HR team supporting the fluid management, material handling and power tools business units, where she aligned HR strategies and processes to the most pressing business needs. In addition to Ingersoll Rand, Keene has nearly 20 years of experience in human resources leadership positions at GE and Sabic. She received her bachelor’s degree in business administration and management from Pennsylvania State University.

“Promoting Kate from within the company is a testament to Ingersoll Rand’s proven approach to diversity and leadership talent development, succession and deployment, which is a key tenet of our strategy,” Reynal noted.