Tricia Fulton, CFO of Sarasota's Helios Technologies, hands over reins after 26 years
SARASOTA — Sarasota-based Helios Technologies, Inc., a global motion control and electronics manufacturer and technology company, has announced the successor to longtime Chief Finacial Officer Tricia Fulton this week.
The global technology company − formerly Sun Hydraulics Corporation − announced that Fulton will be succeeded by Sean Bagan, the company's vice president of finance and CFO of a Helios Technologies subsidiary company, Polaris.
Fulton began her work at the company in March 1997 and has worked at Helios for over 26 years. She has served as the global company's head financial executive since 2006. A graduate of Hillsdale College and the General Management Program at the Harvard Business School, Fulton led Helios Technologies through its most recent brand mergers and company overhaul beginning in 2018. She was named CFO of the Year by the Tampa Bay Business Journal in 2016.
“On behalf of the board and the entire company, I want to congratulate Tricia on her retirement and express our sincere gratitude for her significant contributions to our success,” said President and Chief Executive Officer Josef Matosevic. “Before I joined Helios, Tricia navigated the company back from a challenging time in 2020. Her knowledge and expertise of our businesses combined with her steadfast leadership and contributions have been invaluable to Helios. We wish her all the best in her next chapter of life.”
Helois develops and manufactures products including customized electronic control systems, hydraulic cartridge valves, and other motion controls for products and machinery — such as tractors, off-road vehicles, personal watercraft vehicles, wave pools, and more — in over 90 countries worldwide. Its three Sarasota facilities and its satellite offices currently employ more than 2,300 workers globally.
The company's reported spring quarterly revenue earnings totaled approximately $213 million in late March.
Bagan will succeed Fulton as CFO and become a member of Helios Technolgies' executive leadership team on Aug. 9.
Bagan joins Helios after spending 23 years at Polaris Inc., a global leader in power sports and off-road innovation. He brings more than 20 years of international business, and strategic financial operations to Helios, according to a news release. Bagan's responsibilities scaled with Polaris over the decades in operational finance, international sales, product segments, acquisitions and corporate finance and treasury. In addition to financial management positions, his roles have included general management and operational oversight for U.S. and related global businesses.
"He has a proven track record of building, growing, and transforming businesses, both in the U.S. and internationally, into highly productive and profitable operations. These are exciting times at Helios, and we expect Sean’s experience to bring further depth and dimension to our team as we execute on our strategy to drive accelerated growth while delivering best-in-class margins.”
According to the company's news release, Fulton will continue on at Helios as an advisor for a year.
In May, Helios announced it had signed an agreement to acquire i3 Product Development, a custom engineering services firm, with over 55 engineers with expertise in electronics, mechanical, industrial, embedded and software engineering. The company said its solutions "are used across many sectors, including medical, off-highway, recreational and commercial marine, power sports, health and wellness, agriculture, consumer goods, industrial, sports and fitness."
"Additionally, they specialize in working to transform customer’s ideas into industrial design solutions through rapid prototyping and creating 3D models in-house. A Top Workplace award winner for multiple years in the state of Wisconsin, i3 has locations in both Sun Prairie and Middleton," the announcement stated.
In January, Helios agreed to acquire Schultes Precision Manufacturing, Inc., a specialist in manufacturing precision machined components and assemblies for customers requiring very tight tolerances, superior quality, and exceptional value-added manufacturing processes. The Buffalo Grove-Illinois business serves the hydraulic, aerospace, communication, food services, medical device and dental industries, according to an announcement of the acquisition.
And last September it acquired the assets of Daman Products Company, “Daman”. The Mishawaka, Indiana business was termed a "leader in complex manifold design and manufacturing for precision hydraulic manifolds and related fluid conveyance products" for industrial and mobile markets including applications in the oil and gas, railroad, construction, agriculture, forestry, mining, material handling, machine tool, robotics, and entertainment industries.
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Sean Bagan named new CFO for Sarasota company Helios Technologies
