Sam Karge was named senior vice president
of A. O. Smith Corporation & president –
North America Water Treatment on September 1, 2018. He joined A. O. Smith in March 2018 as president of
the newly created North America Water Treatment business unit. In this
position, he has profit and loss responsibility for the unit, which consists of
A. O. Smith-branded water treatment products for North America, and the
Aquasana, Hague, Master Water Conditioning, Atlantic Filter and Water-Right
lines.
Sam joined A. O. Smith after
serving as vice president sales & marketing for Zurn Industries of
Milwaukee, part of the Rexnord Water Management Platform from April 2016 until
March 2018. Prior to that, Sam worked at Pentair Residential Filtration of
Milwaukee, holding positions in platform management and marketing management.
He also held the positions of vice president global marketing and director of
global marketing & product management. From 2001 until 2008, he worked at
GE Water and Process Technologies, with roles in global marketing and sales,
product management, and new product development. Sam began his career as a marketing
manager with Osmonics, Inc. of Milwaukee.
Sam holds a BS in
communications and advertising with an emphasis in engineering from the
University of Wisconsin-Madison. He currently serves as the vice president of
the Water Quality Research Foundation. Previously, 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. Sam
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.