Bell to retire from Gates at year-end

Denver, Colorado -- Richard Bell, chairman of Gates Corp. and chief operating officer of industrial and automotive for Tomkins PLC, plans to retire on 31 Dec. after 43 years of service.

Tomkins CEO Jim Nicol will take over as Gates chairman and Alan Power will become executive vice president, industrial and automotive, when Bell steps down. Power will be responsible for all of the group's industrial and automotive businesses, other than Gates Corp.

Bell started his career as a laboratory assistant in the compound mixing laboratory in a US Rubber Co. facility in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1965. He progressed through various laboratory positions and became a factory compounder.

He later became product development manager and eventually technical director of the company's European belt business.

Bell became managing director of the Gates and Unitta joint venture in Japan in 1979. He progressed through senior positions in Australia, Germany and Belgium before moving to the US in 1996 as president of Gates North America Power Transmission.

In 1997, he became president of the Gates Worldwide Power Transmission business and took on the additional role of president of Gates in 2002. In 2007, he assumed his current positions

From Rubber & Plastics News (A Crain publication)