Knife River names Glenn Pladsen chief excellence officer

Knife River (KNF) Corporation announced that Glenn R. Pladsen has been named Vice President and Chief Excellence Officer, tasked with leading core elements of the company’s “Competitive EDGE” strategy for long-term, profitable growth. The position takes effect Jan. 1, 2025. “EDGE” stands for EBITDA Margin Improvement, Discipline, Growth and Excellence. The “Excellence” pillar of EDGE helps support each of the other key initiatives. In his current role as vice president of support services, Pladsen has been directly involved in launching the company’s Process Improvement Teams (PIT Crews), the Knife River Training Center and other strategic programs aimed at building a strong team and delivering profitable results. His role is being expanded to help the company achieve industry-leading safety performance and excellence across its commercial and operational initiatives. “We have seen significant early success with our PIT Crews and our training and development efforts, and we believe there are considerable opportunities to build on this momentum,” said Knife River President and CEO Brian Gray. “This is an exciting time at Knife River. We’re focused on continued growth and success. Glenn is well-respected across our organization and is highly skilled at developing and standardizing best practices for process improvements. There are multiple paths to achieving our strategic goals, and on each of those paths we are focused on excellence and continuous improvement.”