Why This Matters to Distributors: Motion is moving closer to becoming an independent publicly traded industrial distributor in 2027, separating from Genuine Parts Co. after decades under the same corporate parent. GPC has now identified the five senior executives who will lead the standalone business, which generated $4.73 billion in sales during the first half of 2026.
Genuine Parts Co. is putting the people and structure in place to take Motion public.
The Atlanta-based company has named the five-member senior leadership team that will run Motion after GPC spins off its industrial distribution business into an independent publicly traded company, a transaction targeted for the first quarter of 2027.
Current GPC Chairman and CEO Will Stengel will become chairman and CEO of Motion when the separation is completed. James Howe, a 30-year Motion veteran who has served as president since 2024, has been promoted to president and chief operating officer and will continue overseeing the distributor’s day-to-day operations and strategy.
Howard Yu will join Motion as executive vice president and chief financial officer. Kevin Stone will become executive vice president and chief information officer, while Billy Hamilton will serve as executive vice president and chief human resources officer.
The appointments establish much of the corporate structure Motion will take into the public market and combine longtime Motion executives with leaders who have experience in distribution, corporate separations, and public companies.
They also come as Motion enters the transition with growing sales.
GPC’s Industrial Parts Group, which will operate as Motion following the separation, generated second-quarter sales of $2.41 billion, up 7.1% from $2.25 billion a year earlier. Comparable sales increased 6.1%.
For the first six months of 2026, industrial sales reached $4.73 billion, up 6.2% from $4.45 billion during the same period in 2025. Comparable sales increased by 5%.
Those results put Motion at an annual sales pace approaching $10 billion as management prepares the business to operate independently from GPC.
A Major Distributor Heads Toward Independence
GPC plans to separate its automotive and industrial businesses into two independent, publicly traded companies.
The automotive business will retain the Genuine Parts Co. name. The industrial business will become a standalone public company operating as Motion.
The separation represents a major structural change for GPC, which traces its history to 1928 and today operates automotive and industrial replacement parts businesses across North America, Europe, and Australasia.
Across the two businesses, GPC has more than 10,800 locations in 17 countries and more than 65,000 employees.
Motion will emerge from that organization as a large independent industrial distributor rather than a division of a diversified parent company.
The separation is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2027. It remains subject to customary conditions, including final approval by GPC’s board and the effectiveness of a Form 10 registration statement filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
The Form 10 is expected to provide more details about standalone Motion, including its financial condition, capital structure, risks, and operations.
Stengel Will Run Standalone Motion
At the top of the new company will be Stengel, who will move from running all of GPC to leading Motion.
Stengel has served as GPC’s CEO since June 2024. He joined the company in 2019 as executive vice president and chief transformation officer, became president in 2021, and was named president and chief operating officer in 2023.
Before joining GPC, Stengel held several executive positions at HD Supply, including during the industrial distributor’s transition from a privately held to a publicly traded company.
He also worked in strategy and mergers and acquisitions at Home Depot and previously worked in investment banking.
That background gives Motion a CEO who has experience both operating a large distribution company and working through the corporate and financial issues associated with public ownership.
Stengel will remain chairman and CEO of GPC until the separation is completed. He will then move to Motion as chairman and CEO.
Howe Will Run Day-to-Day Operations
If Stengel is responsible for leading the new public company, Howe will be the senior executive running Motion’s operations.
Howe was named president and chief operating officer effective Sept. 6, expanding his responsibilities as Motion prepares for independence.
He became president in 2024 after previously serving as Motion’s chief commercial officer and chief technology officer.
Howe has spent more than 30 years at Motion, including numerous field leadership positions before moving to the corporate office in 2019. GPC said he will continue leading Motion’s day-to-day operations and strategy.
His expanded role provides continuity as Motion builds a separate corporate structure around an operating organization that is already in place.
According to GPC’s Sept. 9 SEC filing, Howe’s annual base salary increased to $750,000 following the appointment. His 2026 annual bonus target increased to 100% of his base salary, prorated from the effective date, and his target 2027 long-term equity incentive award was set at $2.3 million.
New CFO Has Been Through a Spin-Off Before
One of the more significant additions to the Motion team is Yu, who brings direct experience taking a business out of a larger corporation and into the public market.
Yu will join Motion as executive vice president and chief financial officer after most recently serving as executive vice president and CFO of Ball Corp.
Before Ball, Yu served as CFO of Envista Holdings, a publicly traded company separated from Danaher Corp. He helped lead Envista’s separation and initial public offering in 2019, according to GPC.
Yu spent 22 years with Danaher and Envista and held financial leadership positions overseeing businesses in Asia, Europe, and Latin America. His responsibilities included mergers and acquisitions, capital allocation and building financial operations.
Earlier in his career, he worked as a senior auditor at Deloitte & Touche and held finance positions at Hewlett-Packard, Conexant, and Beckman Coulter.
His previous experience with Envista is particularly relevant as Motion establishes financial reporting, investor relations, capital markets, and other functions required of an independent publicly traded company.
Motion Keeps Technology and HR Leadership In-House
The remainder of Motion’s announced senior leadership team comes from within the business.
Stone, currently senior vice president of information technology and procurement, will become executive vice president and chief information officer.
Hamilton, currently senior vice president of people, will become executive vice president and chief human resources officer. Both appointments are effective immediately.
The initial senior leadership team therefore consists of Stengel as chairman and CEO; Howe as president and COO; Yu as executive vice president and CFO; Stone as executive vice president and CIO; and Hamilton as executive vice president and chief human resources officer.
The structure gives Motion internal continuity in operations, technology and human resources while adding outside financial expertise for the transition to an independent public company.
Motion board has not yet been completed.
GPC said its board is in discussions with potential Motion directors who would bring additional experience to the company. Those appointments will be announced later and take effect when the separation is completed.
What Happens to Genuine Parts Co.
GPC’s automotive business will continue under Genuine Parts Co.’s name with a separate management team.
Court Carruthers has been named CEO-elect and will become CEO when the separation is completed.
Carruthers is a current GPC board member and previously served as president and CEO of global packaging distributor TricorBraun. Before joining TricorBraun, he spent 13 years at W.W. Grainger, serving as group president of the Americas.
GPC said Carruthers led a $9 billion distribution business across North and South America while at Grainger and has been involved in more than 100 acquisitions during his career.
Bert Nappier will serve as executive vice president, chief financial and operating officer of GPC.
The automotive leadership team also will include Jenn Hulett as executive vice president and chief people officer; Chris Galla as senior vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary; Alain Masse as president of North America Automotive; Franck Baduel as CEO of European Automotive; and Rob Cameron as managing director and group CEO for Australasia.
Jean-Jacques Lafont, a GPC director and co-founder of the company’s European operations, will become nonexecutive chairman of GPC after the separation.
Motion’s Game Plan Comes into Focus in December
The leadership announcement answers the question of who will run Motion. The next major step will be explaining how they intend to run it as an independent company.
Motion will hold an investor day in New York on Dec. 9, one day after GPC holds a separate investor day for its automotive business.
GPC said the two management teams will provide details about their respective businesses and outline their strategies for growth and investment.
For Motion, the presentation should provide the first detailed look at how management intends to operate and invest as a standalone distributor, including its priorities for organic growth, acquisitions, technology, supply chain operations, and capital deployment.
The separation itself is not final.
GPC has cautioned that the timing remains subject to several conditions, including board approval and regulatory filings. The company also said the separation could be more difficult, time-consuming, or costly than expected and that the anticipated benefits may not be achieved.
If completed on schedule, however, the transaction will begin a new chapter for one of North America’s largest industrial distributors.
Motion would enter independence after generating $4.73 billion in sales during the first half of 2026, with Stengel leading the public company, Howe overseeing operations, Yu managing its finances and public-company transition, and Stone and Hamilton overseeing technology and human resources.
The names and faces are now largely in place. The next piece will come Dec. 9, when Motion’s leadership is expected to spell out the game plan for operating the distributor on its own.
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