James F. Stern, Executive VP, General Counsel, and Secretary
Jim Stern joined A. O. Smith Corporation as
executive vice president, general counsel, and secretary on June 1, 2007. He is responsible for overseeing the
corporation’s legal, governance, compliance, securities law, and government
relations functions. Jim also spends a significant portion of his time on corporate
development and the company’s global water treatment business, in which he chairs the Global Water Treatment steering committee.
Jim joined the company after 15 years with
Foley & Lardner LLP of Milwaukee where he was a partner, providing legal
services and advice for a wide range of public and private companies. Prior to joining Foley & Lardner, Jim was
an associate with Latham & Watkins LLP of Chicago, Ill. and he also served as a law clerk
under Pasco M. Bowman, II, senior judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the
Eighth Circuit in Kansas City, Mo.
Jim currently serves on the Board of
Directors of Badger Meter, Inc., a Milwaukee-based metering and flow technologies company, the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) and Milwaukee
Water Council. He served as a member of the
Board of Directors of Jason Industries, Inc., a global manufacturer with four
segments: seating, finishing, components, and automotive acoustics, and the Polar
Ware Company, a privately-held manufacturer of restaurant wares and beverage
dispensing machines from 2007 until its sale in 2012. He also currently serves on a number of
charitable boards, including the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, the Fleck
Foundation and the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee.
Jim graduated from the University of
Notre Dame (BA), Northwestern University School of Law (JD), and the Advanced
Management Program at the Harvard Business School.