ITW's Board of Directors Elects Juan Valls to Executive Vice President; Robert Brunner Moves to New Executive Vice President Role

GLENVIEW, Ill., Oct. 25 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Illinois Tool Works Inc. today announced that its Board of Directors has elected Juan Valls to executive vice president of global automotive fasteners. Robert Brunner, former executive vice president of global automotive fasteners, has moved to the position of executive vice president of ITW's worldwide construction business.

Mr. Valls, 45, becomes the first ITW executive vice president based outside of the United States. Prior to his new position, he was vice president and general manager of ITW Delfast International automotive fasteners. He has held numerous European automotive management positions at ITW. He joined ITW in 1989 as business manager of ITW Nexus Europe. Prior to that, Mr. Valls was an auditor and consultant at Arthur Andersen. He received his degree in business administration from ESADE in Barcelona.

Mr. Brunner, 50, has been with ITW since 1980 and has held a series of sales and general management roles within the automotive fastener units. Mr. Brunner was named president of North American automotive metal fasteners in 2002 and president of global automotive fasteners in 2005. He was promoted to executive vice president of global automotive fasteners in 2006. He is a graduate of the University of Illinois and holds an MBA from Baldwin-Wallace College.

"I am pleased that Juan and Bob will be leading ITW's automotive fastener and construction businesses. Juan's promotion speaks to his talents and ITW's expanding global footprint as we continue to acquire and grow our businesses around the world," said David B. Speer, chairman and chief executive officer. "Bob is an extremely capable manager and I'm confident in his abilities to run our construction businesses."

ITW is a $14.1 billion in revenues diversified manufacturer of highly engineered components and industrial systems and consumables. The Company consists of approximately 750 business units in 49 countries and employs some 55,000 people.