Mullen named Hubbardton Forge CEO

Hubbardton Forge president and COO Maria Mullen has assumed the role of CEO of the Castleton, Vt.-based lighting manufacturer.

In addition, company veteran Steve Wiegers has been promoted to vice president of operations.

Mullen, appointed president and COO on June 1, will now assume the role of CEO, with Bubba Sandford having completed his mission to assist the company in navigating the draw-down and closure, due to the pandemic, and subsequent successful re-opening of production.

Mullen, a lighting industry veteran executive with more than a decade of experience at the helm of two major companies, also led her own lighting design/manufacturing company prior to joining Hubbardton Forge back in June.

“I am honored and excited to have been selected to lead this wonderful company. We have a great and talented team, a terrific culture and a desire to innovate and lead in design and technology,” Mullen said. “We are writing the next chapter in this classic American story and I look forward to leading the team to new heights.”

Under Sandford’s guidance, Hubbardton Forge moved from one shift to two and was able to ship through an unprecedentedly-high backlog due to a five-week closure in the spring. Today, the company is back at 100{6e11cad7ac0545e2324fbf6d445e3b83c9482a898fa074d95dae34b306dc1610} employment, and boasting its highest production rates while keeping the team safe and healthy.

In addition to the company’s recent announcement of Andrew Knapp as vice president of sales, overseeing commercial, trade and residential showroom sales, Hubbardton Forge also announced the promotion of Wiegers, an 18-year employee, into his new role.

Steve Wiegers

Wiegers began his career with the company as a manufacturing team member, and held a variety of managerial roles within the Forge, including that of supply chain manager, before being promoted in March to acting director of operations.

“Steve is extremely talented and, moreover, committed to Hubbardton Forge. He is exactly the type of manager any company would be lucky to have,” said Mullen. “His hard work in managing the shutdown and reopening was exceptional, and his ability to improve operations during this challenging year helped us come out of this period stronger than before. I look forward to working with Steve in his new position to continue to improve and grow our company.”