Moog CEO named 2019 Buffalo Niagara Executive of the Year

By Jacqueline Molik Ghosen

BUFFALO, N.Y.—John Scannell, chairman and CEO of Moog Inc., will be honored as the 2019 Buffalo Niagara Executive of the Year by the University at Buffalo School of Management.

The award will be presented at the 70th Annual UB School of Management Alumni Association Awards Banquet beginning at 5 p.m. on Nov. 7 at the Hyatt Regency Buffalo, located at 2 Fountain Plaza.

Scannell was selected by a vote of past honorees and the alumni association’s board of directors, who lauded him as a humble, quiet leader who brings diverse stakeholders together and has helped propel Moog’s steady growth over the past several years.

Just the third CEO in Moog’s 68-year history, Scannell has led the publicly traded company since December 2011 and was elected chairman of the board in 2014. Moog is a worldwide designer, manufacturer and integrator of precision controls. Its high-performance systems control military and commercial aircraft, satellites and space vehicles, missiles, automated industrial machinery and medical equipment.

Under Scannell’s leadership, the $3 billion company has successfully navigated political uncertainty, demographic shifts and changing technology to grow all of its business segments. At the same time, Moog has invested in emerging technologies to explore new markets, including autonomous technology for agricultural production and connected machines through the “internet of things.”

A proud Irish native, Scannell joined Moog in 1990 as an engineering manager in Cork, Ireland. After earning his MBA at Harvard Business School, he returned to the company in 1999 as general manager of Moog Ireland. In 2003, Scannell and his family relocated to Western New York when he joined the company’s Aircraft Group in East Aurora. From there, he rose through various roles before being elected CEO, including vice president of contracts and pricing, chief financial officer, and president and chief operating officer.

Highly regarded in the business community, Scannell serves on the boards of M&T Bank, Albany International Corp., Invest Buffalo Niagara and the Buffalo Niagara Partnership, for which he is vice chair of the executive committee.

In addition to his MBA, Scannell holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering from University College Cork, Ireland.

Established in 1949, the Buffalo Niagara Executive of the Year award is presented annually to an individual who resides in or has a major impact on the region, and whose career has been distinguished by executive success and civic leadership. Recent honorees include Clotilde Perez-Bode Dedecker, president and CEO of the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo; the late Mark J. Czarnecki, former president and chief operating officer of M&T Bank; and Candace S. Johnson, president and CEO of Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center.

The awards banquet will also honor exceptional UB School of Management alumni and community leaders for entrepreneurship, industry leadership, early career achievement, service to the school and service to the Western New York community.

For more information, contact the School of Management’s Office of Alumni Engagement and External Relations at mgt-alumnievents@buffalo.edu or 716-645-3224.