The Middleby Corporation announced Selim Bassoul is retiring from his role as Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer. Timothy FitzGerald has been named Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors. Mr. FitzGerald has been instrumental in the development and execution of the company strategy since joining in 1998 and having served as Chief Financial Officer since 2003.

More recently he developed the Middleby residential distribution platform supporting growth for Viking and all the residential brands. Prior to Middleby, Mr. FitzGerald held positions at Arthur Andersen in audit and consulting from 1991 through 1998, assisting clients in restructurings, business integrations, and mergers and acquisition activities. These changes are effective as of February 16, 2019.

Mr. Bassoul will serve as a consultant to the Board. The company also announced that industry veteran David Brewer has been promoted to Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Middleby. During his 12 years at Middleby Mr. Brewer led growth initiatives of the Commercial Foodservice Group and was responsible for successfully launching the Middleby National Accounts team, which has been a critical differentiator in servicing the Middleby large key customers.

Mr. Brewer also has been instrumental in developing and directing supply chain initiatives over the past several years. Prior to Middleby, Mr. Brewer served as President and General Manager at Lantech Corporation. Mr. Brewer also held leadership positions at Yum!

Brands Corporation and Chiquita Brands International. In addition it was announced Bryan Mittelman, Middleby Chief Accounting Officer, has been promoted to Chief Financial Officer. In his role as Chief Financial Officer, Mr. Mittelman will work closely with Martin Lindsay, Corporate Treasurer, also an officer of the company, who has 20 years of senior-level finance experience with the company.

Mr. Mittelman has 27 years of finance experience and most recently served as Chief Accounting Officer of The Middleby Corporation since 2018. Prior to Middleby, he spent five years as a Vice President and Controller of Knowles Corporation. Mr. Mittelman has also served as Corporate Controller at Morningstar Inc. and in finance and accounting roles at Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics, Dade Behring and Arthur Andersen.

Additionally, Gordon O'Brien, who has served as Lead Independent Director of the Middleby Board since 2010, has been named Chairman of the Board. Mr. O'Brien has been associated with Middleby since 2001, a member of the Middleby Board of Directors since 2005, and has served as Lead Independent Director since 2010. He has been Managing Partner at Cannon Capital since 2017.