US industrial gas major appoints Latin America specialist to lead IR team
Juan Pelaez has been named as the new IR director for Praxair. He succeeds Kelcey Hoyt, who has been promoted to serve as the Danbury, Connecticut-headquartered firm’s vice president and controller.
After a career start as a finance manager at G2 Seismic in Bogota, Pelaez joined Praxair’s Colombia office in a similar role, later moving on to serve as regional finance director in Caracas, Venezuela and finance and administrative director for Hispanic countries based in Rio de Janeiro.
The business graduate was most recently vice president of finance for Praxair Mexico, a role he had held since 2011 after having served as managing director for the Caribbean region, based in Puerto Rico.
‘Kelcey and Juan each bring a wealth of financial expertise and global business acumen to their positions,’ comments senior vice president and CFO Matthew White in a press release. ‘They will provide outstanding leadership to our finance and investor relations organizations.’
Hoyt, a former audit manager for KPMG, had been head of IR since 2010 for the industrial gas company, which is also a constituent of the Dow Jones Sustainability Index. She contributed to IR Magazine’s special report on sustainability communications last year, explaining how the investor relations and sustainable development teams work hand in hand in order to produce a consistent set of messages about the business.