Milwaukee, Wis.—A.
O. Smith Corporation today announced that D. Samuel Karge has been named
president of the newly created North America water treatment business unit.
In this new
position, Karge will have profit and loss responsibility for the unit, which
consists of A. O. Smith branded water treatment products for North America, the
Aquasana line of drinking water solutions, and the Hague line of water
softening products. He will lead all
functions of the business including sales and marketing, manufacturing, product
development, and quality, as well as business and strategic planning.
“Sam brings
a wealth of global experience in the water treatment and residential water
filtration industries to A. O. Smith,” President and Chief Operating Officer
Kevin J. Wheeler said in making the announcement. “He is widely known and respected by
customers, water associations, and other companies in the industry.”
Karge joins
A. O. Smith after serving as vice president-sales and marketing for Zurn
Industries of Milwaukee, part of the Rexnord Water Management Platform. While
at Zurn, he led a number of strategic initiatives including a revamp of the
company’s marketing function, the development of a National Owners Accounts
team focused on large, national customers, and the launch of critical new
products in the commercial channel.
From 2008 until 2016, Karge worked at
Pentair Residential Filtration of Milwaukee, holding positions in platform
management and marketing management. As
vice president and platform leader of the Residential Filtration Platform, he
was responsible for the business unit’s engineering, finance, global sales,
marketing, product management and quality functions. Prior to that, he held the positions of vice
president-global marketing and director of global marketing and product
management.
He has also
held positions in global marketing and sales, product management, and new
product development at GE Water and Process Technologies prior to its entering
into a joint venture with Pentair in 2008.
He began his career as a marketing manager with Osmonics, Inc., of
Milwaukee. GE acquired Osmonics in 2001.
Karge is a
1997 graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a bachelor of science
degree in communications and advertising with an emphasis in engineering.
He was a
member of the Board of Directors of the Water Quality Association from 2007
until 2016 and served as the association president during the 2014-2015
term. He also chaired the association’s
Government Relations Committee and the Convention Committee.
Karge received the Water Quality
Association’s Hall of Fame Award in 2017, the highest award presented by the
organization. He also is a 2009
recipient of a Key Award from the WQA.