Cary B. Wood is president and chief executive officer of Sparton Corporation, as well as a member of the Board of Directors, where he brings significant experience with accelerated turnaround strategies.

With over 20 years experience in both public and private company settings, Wood started his career with General Motors (GM), where he spent nearly 10 years. It was during that time GM was transitioning from traditional manufacturing operations to a more contemporary operating approach. Wood spent much of those years in direct operating and engineering roles in a number of assembly plants and parts manufacturing locations. He spent some of those years working in the Toyota/GM Joint Venture located in Freemont, Calif., known as NUMMI. Wood was tasked with bringing back the Toyota Production System (TPS) to troubled operations across some of GM's North American manufacturing footprint. It was in this role that he earned the award of "Engineer of the Year" from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME).

Recruited away to United Technologies, Wood was both a plant manager and ultimately, a general manager with full profit and loss responsibility. He executed a full on operating turnaround in a division with stamping, molding, assembly and distribution operations. This turnaround included supply chain initiatives, labor negotiations, operating footprint optimization, margin and customer management, financial management and organic growth strategies.

Wood then headed to the world of private companies and private equity sponsored companies, such as Formica Corporation and Elkay Corporation. He led closures, consolidations, divestitures, merger and acquisition integration efforts, Greenfield site development, as well as lean deployment, Six Sigma and growth strategies. Many of these results have been highlighted in Manufacturing Today, as well as various other trade journals. Wood has also been a featured speaker at several Association for Operations Management (AIPICS) forums in the area of "lean" practices and its integration into organizations.

He joined Citation Corporation in late 2004 for the purpose of managing the foundry, machining and assembly operations through a planned financial and operating reorganization as its chief operating officer. As a result of that reorganization effort, the balance sheet was substantially deleveraged, cash management and working capitol was significantly improved, the operating footprint improved its percent utilization, and the management team was upgraded. After select divestitures and redefining its core business, the corporation found itself back on firm footing across market segments where it had grown in spite of market contractions. Wood introduced systems, standards and disciplines from TPS, Six Sigma techniques, and contemporary quality systems that resulted in incremental improvements in various indices like that of scrap, labor performance, cycle time, working capitol, warranty, containment cost, customer rejects, and more.

He represents the company in a variety of trade, market and customer venues. He is a member or affiliate of AIA (Aerospace Industries Association), AFS (American Foundry Society), OESA (Original Equipment Suppliers Association), MEMA (Motor and Equipment Manufacturers Association), JAMA (Japanese Automotive Manufacturers Association), HDMA (Heavy Duty Manufacturers Association), MSED (Marketing and Sales Executives of Detroit), DEC (Detroit Economic Club) and FEF (Foundry Education Foundation) where he sits as a member of the board of directors. Additionally, Wood sits as the vice president and a member of the Board of Directors of the Beta Mu chapter of Beta Theta Pi fraternity of Purdue University.