A. O. Smith Corporation has named D. Samuel Karge as the new president of the newly created North America water treatment business unit.

In this new position, Karge will have profit and loss responsibility for the unit, which consists of A. O. Smith branded water treatment products for North America, the Aquasana line of drinking water solutions, and the Hague line of water softening products. He will lead all functions of the business including sales and marketing, manufacturing, product development, and quality, as well as business and strategic planning.

“Sam brings a wealth of global experience in the water treatment and residential water filtration industries to A. O. Smith,” President and Chief Operating Officer Kevin J. Wheeler said. “He is widely known and respected by customers, water associations, and other companies in the industry.”

Karge joins A. O. Smith after serving as vice president-sales and marketing for Zurn Industries of Milwaukee, where he led a number of strategic initiatives including a revamp of the company’s marketing function, the development of a National Owners Accounts team focused on large, national customers and the launch of critical new products in the commercial channel.

From 2008 until 2016, Karge worked at Pentair Residential Filtration of Milwaukee, holding positions in platform management and marketing management.

He has also held positions in global marketing and sales, product management, and new product development at GE Water and Process Technologies prior to its entering into a joint venture with Pentair in 2008.  He began his career as a marketing manager with Osmonics, Inc., of Milwaukee.  GE acquired Osmonics in 2001.

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