Folience has appointed Tom Pientok as its new president and chief executive officer, effective June 1, the company’s board of directors announced.
Mr. Pientok, a longtime Cedar Rapids business executive, moves into the role after serving as interim CEO on a part-time basis since February, following the departure of former president and CEO Chris Snyder.
Mr. Pientok has been a member of the Folience board since 2017 and served as chairperson since 2019, according to a news release. With his appointment to the executive role, current board member Tracy McCormick will step in as board chair. Bill Adamowski will replace Ms. McCormick as chair of the audit committee, and Wendy Guillies will continue as chair of the compensation committee.
Ms. McCormick praised Pientok’s leadership and familiarity with the organization.
“As a veteran board member, he has seen Folience grow into the strong company it is today,” she said in a statement. “The board and leadership team believe he is the right person to take the reins and to lead the Folience employee-owners to greater impact and success.”
Mr. Pientok most recently served as president and CEO of Timberline Manufacturing in Marion, retiring earlier this year. He joined Timberline’s board in 2013 and assumed the top executive role in 2018. Prior to that, he held leadership roles at Cedar Rapids-based Apache Inc., including president and CEO from 2007 to 2018.
In addition to his corporate experience, Mr. Pientok has been active in business and civic affairs in the Cedar Rapids area and brings experience leading employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) companies.
“This certainly was not in the cards as little as 30 days ago,” Mr. Pientok said in a statement, noting the unexpected end to his retirement. “But I have a deep affection and connection to Folience and I’m blessed to be at a place in my life where I can step in to help the team move forward.”
Mr. Pientok acknowledged recent leadership changes at the company following the 2022 retirement of longtime CEO Daniel Goldstein and the brief tenure of his successor. He said his board experience positions him to help Folience move forward.
“I’m confident that together we can build on Folience’s reputation as a stellar, 100 percent employee-owned portfolio of companies with a passion for excellence,” he said.
Folience is a 100% ESOP-owned holding company that invests in profitable businesses with strong management continuity. The company traces its roots to a family-owned company formed in 1884 and its newspaper, the Cedar Rapids Gazette, started the prior year in 1883. By 1986, the family began embracing employee-ownership, and by 2012 the company was 100% employee-owned.
Today, Folience’s approximately 500 employees work to uphold employee ownership core values across Folience’s three families of business – media, ambulance manufacturing and horse and livestock trailer manufacturing – in addition to Shared Services.
