LATROBE, Pa., Dec. 8, 2010 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Kennametal Inc. (NYSE: KMT) announced today that John R. Tucker has been appointed to the position of Vice President and President, Business Groups. Effective immediately, Mr. Tucker will lead the global resources of our new strategic and growth business groups to help drive profitability through delivering innovative products and services to customers.

Mr. Tucker will also continue to serve as Vice President and Chief Technical Officer until a successor is named. Gary Weismann, who most recently served as Vice President and President, Business Groups, has, after more than twenty-one years of total service with Kennametal, elected to retire effective January 4, 2011. This timing allows for a seamless transition of this key role.

Mr. Tucker joined Kennametal in October 2008 as the Chief Technical Officer. Before joining Kennametal, he was Chairman and CEO of Sermatech International — a global technology firm. Prior to leading Sermatech, John served in key leadership positions in such companies as Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Daimler Benz Aerospace, AlliedSignal Aerospace and York International Corporation.

"Over the past 18 months, John has been instrumental in helping to lead the global reorganization of our enterprise structure to be customer driven through a market facing segment approach," said Kennametal Chairman, President and CEO Carlos M. Cardoso. "His broad leadership skills and proven global P&L experience, along with his deep understanding of Kennametal's markets and customers make him an excellent choice for this key position."

Kennametal Inc. (NYSE: KMT) delivers productivity to customers seeking peak performance in demanding environments by providing innovative custom and standard wear-resistant solutions. This proven productivity is enabled through our advanced materials sciences and application knowledge.  Our commitment to a sustainable environment provides additional value to our customers. Companies operating in everything from airframes to coal mining, from engines to oil wells and from turbochargers to construction recognize Kennametal for extraordinary contributions to their value chains. In fiscal year 2010, customers bought approximately $1.9 billion of Kennametal products and services – delivered by our approximately 11,000 talented employees doing business in more than 60 countries – with more than 50 percent of these revenues coming from outside North America. Visit us at www.kennametal.com.

SOURCE Kennametal Inc.