Retirement brings new role to Intermagnetics' chief
Colonie-- After guiding GE spinoff for 27 years, Carl Rosner will assume duties as consultant while remaining chairman
JO-ANN JOHNSTON
Business writer
Entrepreneur Carl H. Rosner will retire next year as chief executive of Intermagnetics General Corp., the General Electric Co. spinoff
that became a well-known local manufacturer and exporter in its own right.
Intermagnetics produces superconducting magnets, wire and cable, meaning the components are capable of conducting electricity
practically without resistance. That feature is especially attractive in equipment used in power industries, as well as other fields, such
as medical imaging. The company also makes refrigeration equipment.
Rosner, who turns 70 next year, will step down as president at the end of the company's current fiscal year, in May 1999. Rosner
was principle founder of the company in 1971.
But Rosner will stay on as a consultant and will remain chairman, a post he has held since 1984. Rosner noted he is the largest single
shareholder in the publicly traded company, with a little less than 5 percent of the stock.
"I'm going to be vitally interested,'' he said.
Rosner said he expects to work up to half-time.
Rosner expects that when he retires he will be succeeded by president and chief operations officer Glenn Epstein, who joined the
company in May 1997. Epstein, 40, was recruited from his position as president of Oxford Instruments Nuclear Measurements
Group in Oak Ridge, Tenn. Epstein had also worked previously for General Electric, though he and Rosner did not know each other
at the time. Epstein joined the company's board earlier this year.
Rosner said his proudest accomplishment with Intermagnetics has been creating a company he considers a good employer and that
makes energy-saving products that are also "environmentally attractive.''
The company posts about $100 million in sales. It employs 550 to 600 people nationwide, including about 250 people in the Capital
Region.
Due to export sales, Intermagnetics employs a handful of people in positions overseas. Intermagnetics sells into the European,
Japanese, and Australian markets, for instance.
Epstein will be coming to the helm at a time when the company has new opportunities ahead. New companies and projects are being
launched inside the electrical utility industry because of deregulation, for instance.
So Epstein's major challenge will be to "expand the company from $100 million in sales to $300 million to $500 million in the next
five years, and to do so while increasing profitability,'' Rosner said. At the same time, Rosner added, the value of the company's
stock should increase.
Intermagnetics stock closed Thursday at $6.69, up 19 cents.
First published on Friday, November 13, 1998
Business
Copyright 1998, Capital Newspapers Division |
