DMC Global hires president for Arcadia biz unit

BROOMFIELD — DMC Global Inc. (Nasdaq: BOOM) has hired Jim Schladen to serve as the latest president of Arcadia, its architectural building products supply business. 

Schladen had been Arcadia’s president from 2000 until his retirement in January 2023.

DMC bought a 60% controlling stake in Arcadia in 2021 in a deal worth about $282.5 million. DMC’s other business units are DynaEnergetics, the company’s energy-industry services division, and NobelClad, its industrial infrastructure and transportation division. 

Schladen takes over leadership of Arcadia from Chris Scocos, who was tapped to serve as the division’s interim president last fall. 

“I am pleased to welcome Jim back to Arcadia,” DMC interim CEO James O’Leary, who began leading the company after former DMC CEO Michael Kuta left last November, said in a prepared statement. “Since I joined the DMC board, Jim has been a valuable resource regarding Arcadia’s markets, history and what drove its success under his leadership. We are looking forward to working with him in this exciting new chapter of Arcadia’s history.”

In early 2024, company leaders told investors that DMC, which has experienced significant turmoil and a plummeting stock valuation in recent years, would attempt to offload DynaEnergetics and NobelClad, leaving Arcadia as the company’s sole business unit. 

In a letter sent this week to DMC board of directors, Warren Lichtenstein, the executive chairman of supply-chain management firm Steel Connect Inc., reiterated his company’s desire to acquire all or part of DMC’s business and took leaders of the Broomfield-based oilfield-services, construction-products and infrastructure operator to task for “the continued destruction of stockholder value.”

Steel Connect made several unsolicited — and thus far unsuccessful — bids to buy DMC, which has struggled with leadership continuity and has seen its stock price lose more than 50% of its value over the last 12 months.

Steel Connect, which owns 9.9% of the outstanding shares of DMC Global Inc., said the company has “consistently attempted to engage with (the DMC board) in a constructive manner to help maximize value for all stockholders — of which we are the largest.”

In response to Steel Connect’s letter, DMC’s board said this week that the company “and its advisors have continued to work diligently and in good faith with Steel Connect to enable it to finally advance and timely submit an actionable proposal to acquire the Company, including providing evidence of its ability to fund.”

The letter continued: “Over approximately the past two years, DMC has had four CEOs, co-CEOs, or interim CEOs, and those who have departed have received a total of more than $4 million in severance payments.”

Lichtenstein’s letter said that DMC leadership has “utterly failed in its duty to properly plan for leadership succession and has approved an outlandish amount of executive severance for a Company of its size.”

Steel Connect called on the DMC board “to act swiftly to address our concerns and respond to our proposals. We reserve all rights to take any action we deem necessary to protect stockholders’ best interests.”

DMC’s board said it is “committed to evaluating the Company’s alternatives, including the execution of its standalone plan, and pursuing the path that it believes to be in the best interests of all stockholders.”

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