On this episode, we remember BW Chairman Bob Chapman, who passed away on March 19, 2026.
As we announced after Bob's passing:
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.
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