GREENWICH, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Atlas Holdings (“Atlas”) announced today the appointment of Peter Taschner to the newly-created role of Principal, Safety and Engineering. Taschner brings a unique skill set and decades of operational experience to Atlas, having spent his career in senior leadership roles across safety, engineering and operations for blue-chip global companies. The creation of this role expands Atlas’ internal capabilities to effect operational transformation and underscores Atlas’ foundational principle – that world class workplace safety is paramount at each of its businesses.
Taschner’s previous roles include Director of DuPont’s renowned Safety Resource Business, Vice President of Operations at Dresser-Rand, Vice President of Safety and Health at Archer-Daniels-Midland, Senior Vice President for Technical Support at Teva Pharmaceuticals and, most recently, Head of Global Engineering at Sanofi Pasteur.
“While the safety of each team member has always been our foremost priority at Atlas, we recognize that our journey toward achieving sustained, world class performance demands dedicated expertise and leadership. The addition of Pete to the Atlas team brings us that ‘next level’ leader and we’re thrilled he has agreed to fill this new role,” said Andrew Bursky, Atlas Co-Founder and Managing Partner.
“Pete is the latest example of Atlas adding experienced subject matter experts to strengthen and expand our business transformation resources so we can best support our companies, improve our operations and drive value creation,” said Tim Fazio, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Atlas. “We are excited to have Pete’s deep experience and capabilities added to the Atlas team.”
“Worker safety is one of the longstanding pillars of the Atlas culture; it is core to who we are and we remain relentless in our effort to ensure each of our associates returns home safely each day,” said Jacob Hudson, Managing Partner of Atlas. “Pete shares this commitment and has a distinguished record of strengthening and improving operations at some of the world’s most successful companies.”
Taschner’s appointment is the latest in a long history of initiatives intended to effectuate Atlas’ commitment to industrial safety – a central component of the Atlas Operating System and ESG strategy since the firm’s early years. In 2007, Atlas formed its first cross-company Atlas Safety Committee – the precursor to what is now a robust safety program that connects safety leaders across each of its portfolio companies for shared learnings and accountability. In 2016, Atlas established the Atlas Safety Council, which grouped Atlas’ growing portfolio of companies into geographically and industrially logical zones, led by senior operating executives within Atlas companies. The Atlas Safety Council has become Atlas’ official channel to share best practices, foster better EH&S communication, offer a safety-focused site audit and craft measurable safety plans.
“While we believe that the Atlas Safety Council has substantially improved safety outcomes, benchmarking against our peers has never been a suitable measure of success for us in this area,” said Sam Astor, Partner at Atlas. “Our focus has been and will continue to be squarely on serious injury and fatality prevention in our businesses, rather than relying on recordable incident rates alone. We are grateful to have Pete join our team and help us lead this charge.”
“I’m energized to be joining Atlas, a team that has made industrial safety not simply a message point but a core operating value for over two decades. To me, being committed to the well-being of each team member is to be committed to continuous improvement and I look forward to working across the Atlas companies as we strive to ensure all businesses operate safely each day,” said Taschner.
About Atlas Holdings
Headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut and founded in 2002, Atlas and its affiliates own and operate 23 platform companies which employ approximately 40,000 associates across more than 250 facilities worldwide. Atlas operates in sectors such as aluminum processing, automotive, building materials, capital equipment, construction services, food manufacturing and distribution, packaging, paper, power generation, printing, pulp, supply chain management and wood products. Atlas’ companies together generate approximately $10 billion in revenues annually. To learn more, please visit: www.atlasholdingsllc.com.
