On this Truly Human Leadership Podcast where we continue to pay tribute to Bob Chapman, our leader and mentor who passed away on March 19, 2026.

All of us at Barry-Wehmiller are very appreciative of all the tributes, condolences and kind words that have come in over the last few weeks. If you'd like to send your own tribute, condolence or remembrance of Bob, we have a page to do so at bobchapman.co. When you submit it, we'll make sure it gets to Bob's family.

On our last episode, we paid tribute to Bob Chapman in his own words. On this episode, we want to hear from some of his friends, colleagues and admirers.

Last fall, there was a dinner held at Barry-Wehmiller's St. Louis office to honor Bob's 50 years as CEO of our company and to also celebrate his 80th birthday. Bob and his entire family were there to enjoy the evening and we're incredibly thankful Bob got to experience this tribute while he was with us.

On this podcast, we want to feature the speeches that were given that evening. We share them not only to remember Bob, but to share the lessons all of these folks learned from him. They include:

Raj Sisodia, the co-founder of Conscious Capitalism and the co-author of Bob's book, Everybody Matters: The Extraordinary Power of Caring for Your People Like Family

Tim Sullivan, Barry-Wehmiller board member and longtime part of Bob's leadership team

Rhonda Spencer, Barry-Wehmiller's Chief People Officer

Steve Gund, who is the CEO of the Gund Company

Simon Sinek, speaker and author, Bob's close friend and one of the biggest champions of Bob's message on leadership

On this episode, we remember BW Chairman Bob Chapman, who passed away on March 19, 2026.

Bob Chapman was more than a business leader, author and speaker, he was a relentless optimist who dedicated his life to building a better world. He worked to redefine what it meant to be a leader in business, to further the understanding that it was an awesome responsibility because the way we lead impacts the way people live. He worked tirelessly to bring more caring to business and built the foundation for Barry-Wehmiller to champion new definitions for success in business: by demonstrating that economic growth and human vibrancy can exist in harmony.

Bob became CEO of a struggling Barry-Wehmiller in 1975 upon the death of his father, William Chapman. At the time, the company was a $20 million supplier of equipment for the brewing industry. As of 2025, when Bob handed the reigns of the business to his son Kyle, the current President and CEO, Barry-Wehmiller had become a $3.6 billion-plus global powerhouse with 12,000 team members and a portfolio spanning industrial and packaging automation, professional services, and life sciences technology.

Beyond his business acumen, in the late 1990s into the 2000s, Bob underwent a personal transformation that changed his thinking from that of traditional "management" to what would later be called Truly Human Leadership.

He then spent the last 15 years of his life sharing the lessons of his transformation by writing prolifically and speaking to audiences around the world.

Although there's no way we could encapsulate the whole of Bob and what he has meant to so many, on this episode, we want to try to pay tribute to Bob through a clips of a number of interviews we've featured with Bob over the duration of the podcast. Clips that we selected that not only pay tribute to his ideas and insight, but that hopefully showcase the person he was.

For more than 75 years, The Gund Company has grown into one of the largest manufacturers and fabricators of composite materials, thermoplastic materials, and elastomeric materials. They have 12 manufacturing locations in five countries and have seen a tremendous amount of growth in the past few years.

Like Barry-Wehmiller, the Gund Company is based in St. Louis and also like Barry-Wehmiller, they are a family business.

On this podcast, we're featuring the Gund Company as Truly Human Leadership Case Study.

A few weeks ago, Steve Gund, CEO of the Gund Company gave a presentation at Washington University here in St. Louis to students in their business school. Steve was joined by Brian Wellinghoff, Barry-Wehmiller's Director of Outreach, who you've heard several times before on this show.

Steve talked about the Gund company's leadership journey and the part Barry-Wehmiller played in helping them along the road to becoming a Truly Human company. Brian provides some additional context from Barry-Wehmiller's own story.

We hope you're inspired by this story that shows how human and economic vibrancy can exist in harmony and how business can be a force for good.