Nelda J. Connors is the Founder and CEO of Pine Grove Holdings, LLC, a privately-held investment firm. Since founding Pine Grove in 2011, Ms. Connors has overseen transactions representing over $100 million in enterprise value.
Her recognized expertise and sought-after strategic counsel currently place her on the public Board of Directors of Boston Scientific, Delphi Technologies, Echo Global Logistics and EnerSys Corporation. She was formerly a public director for Blount International, Vesuvius, and Clarcor Corporation. Nelda had the unique experience of a directorship with the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago during the global economic downturn and serving as a panelist for the Department of Justice’s Takata airbag investigation. Ms. Connors has lived and worked in Japan, Germany and China.
Additionally, Pine Grove Holdings provides advisory services to various investment banks and private equity firms, such as Focal Point Partners, Brightwood Capital, Santa Fe Advisors and Verus Investment Partners.
Ms. Connors has more than 25 years technical and operating experience in diversified industrials. From 2008 through 2011, Ms. Connors was the President and CEO of Atkore International (NYSE: ATKR), formerly a division of Tyco International with revenue peaking at
$2.5 billion dollars during her tenure, leading one of the world’s largest producers of electrical steel and copper commercial construction products to major distributors and contractors. While managing 3,200 global employees in all functional areas of sales and marketing, product engineering, operational excellence, sourcing, manufacturing, logistics and distribution, finance, and human resources. Prior to that, she was a senior executive at Eaton Corporation, Ford Motor Company and Chrysler Corporation in various global business leadership and P&L roles.
A native of Dayton, Ohio, Ms. Connors holds a B.S. and M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Dayton with post-graduate studies at the University of Tokyo in International Finance and Economics.