03.31.22
Val Hollingsworth, board chair and CEO of Hollingsworth & Vose, received the 2022 IDEA Lifetime Achievement Award yesterday at IDEA22 in Miami Beach.
A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business, Hollingsworth began his career in the Investment Banking Division of Lehman Brothers in New York. After two years he joined the family business in 1982, starting at H&V in operations, working as a night shift supervisor, a production manager and a plant manager. He then became director of International Sales and general manager of the Battery Separator Division, before ultimately becoming president, chairman and CEO.
“H&V was essentially a domestic company when he joined them in 1982 with minimal operations beyond North America,” says INDA president Dave Rousse, who presented the award. “Val saw growth opportunities for H&V’s engineered materials beyond North America and oversaw growth into places like the U.K., Germany, China and India.”
During Hollingsworth’s time at the helm of H&V, the company’s innovations included activated carbon technology, nanoweb fine-fiber synthetic composites, electrostatically charged nonwoven filtration media, wetlaid microfiber glass media, thin-bed carbon nonwovens for molecular filtration, battery separator materials and meltblown filtration media.
After more than 40 years with H&V, Hollingsworth is passing the torch of CEO to Josh Ayer while he maintains the role of chairman of the board.
A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business, Hollingsworth began his career in the Investment Banking Division of Lehman Brothers in New York. After two years he joined the family business in 1982, starting at H&V in operations, working as a night shift supervisor, a production manager and a plant manager. He then became director of International Sales and general manager of the Battery Separator Division, before ultimately becoming president, chairman and CEO.
“H&V was essentially a domestic company when he joined them in 1982 with minimal operations beyond North America,” says INDA president Dave Rousse, who presented the award. “Val saw growth opportunities for H&V’s engineered materials beyond North America and oversaw growth into places like the U.K., Germany, China and India.”
During Hollingsworth’s time at the helm of H&V, the company’s innovations included activated carbon technology, nanoweb fine-fiber synthetic composites, electrostatically charged nonwoven filtration media, wetlaid microfiber glass media, thin-bed carbon nonwovens for molecular filtration, battery separator materials and meltblown filtration media.
After more than 40 years with H&V, Hollingsworth is passing the torch of CEO to Josh Ayer while he maintains the role of chairman of the board.
