TE Connectivity: CEO Lynch hands off to #2 Curtin

Terrence Curtin, 48, president of TE Connectivity Ltd., has been named chief executive as of March 9, replacing Tom Lynch, 61, who has run Tyco since it was prepared for spin-off by Tyco International Ltd. in early 2006.

Lynch will remain executive chairman. The board made him chairman last year, and named Curtin, a graduate of Albright College in Reading who had worked at TE  and its predecessor Tyco division (corrected) since 2001 in a string of senior jobs, to TE's board, a year after naming him president and Lynch's heir apparent.

TE, the former Tyco Electronics, is best known for making electrical connectors through factories like its former AMP plants in central Pennsylvania. The company employs 72,000 worldwide. Under Lynch the company has sold units like its Palladium lithium-ion batteries, while adding other businesses, such as Creganna small medical devices.

Lynch, a Bucks County native, also slowed the company's switch to foreign production, noting that with automation and a rise in China labor and manufacturing costs, the U.S. has been more competitive as a factory center.

TE is the only remaining unit of the once-vast Tyco conglomerate to remain as an independent, publicly-traded company since then-CEO Ed Breen began breaking the company into pieces in the mid-2000s. Breen is now leading a similar effort at DuPont Co. , which plans to merge with Dow Chemical and then spin off or sell its businesses, in hopes of enriching investors.

In a statement, Lynch called Curtin "instrumental in establishing TE's global
leadership position in connectivity and sensor solutions and strengthening the
company's financial performance."

Pierre R. Brondeau, CEO of Philadelphia-based FMC Corp. and independent lead director of TE's board, called Curtin "a proven leader."