Tim Breen, the president and CEO of Motion Industries, Inc., Birmingham, AL, since 2014, has died at the age of 58 after a battle with cancer, according to news sources.
“Motion Industries has lost a great leader and the world has lost an amazing human being,” said a news release from the Motion Industries leadership team. “Those of us who have been fortunate enough to know and work with Tim have lost a dear friend and an inspiration. Tim leaves behind a great company, a great culture and a great team that he affectionately referred to as ‘The Motion Family.’ His spirit will forever live on at Motion.”
Breen began his career with Berry Bearing Company in 1982 and served there as a sales representative, branch manager, regional manager and corporate accounts manager. His responsibilities continued to grow after Berry Bearing and Motion Industries joined forces in 1993.
Breen assumed responsibility of all the U.S. locations in 2011 as executive vice president and chief operating officer. Breen was promoted to Motion Industries president and chief operating officer in 2013, before his promotion in November 2014 to president and CEO. With Breen at the helm, Motion Industries attained its record $5-billion sales goal at the end of 2017.
He was active in industry and civic organizations, including as a past president of the Bearing Specialist Association (BSA) and active on committees with the Power Transmission Distributors Association (PTDA).
“We will honor his memory by dedicating ourselves to continuing the work he loved, growing the company he led and appreciating the team he loved so much," the Motion Industries news release said. "Tim’s guidance and vision have left us in a strong position to continue building the company’s success.”
Motion Industries, a distributor of maintenance, repair, and operation replacement parts, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Genuine Parts Company, Atlanta, GA. Motion reported 2017 revenues of $5 billion, and was No. 4 on MDM's 2018 list of the top 40 industrial distributors.
