Hibbing, Minnesota and Welshpool, Western Australia – In August of 2025, long-time L&M leaders, VP of Engineering Kerry Hecimovich and General Manager of the Australia plant, Richard Chapell, will enter retirement.
L&M is thrilled to celebrate Hecimovich and Chapell, who are pillars of L&M Radiator, as they enter this great new chapter of their lives.
As is standard for the company, L&M is filling Hecimovich and Chapell’s roles from within. Applications Engineer Chris Domogalla will become Applications Engineering Manager. Design & Applications Engineer Brian Pierzina will become the Design Engineering Manager. Operations Manager Ryan Chapell will become the General Manager of L&M Australia.
Richard Chapell: General Manager, L&M Australia
Richard Chapell first joined L&M Radiator in 1978 as a junior draftsman, sketching replacement cores. At the time, L&M’s Australia arm was only six years old and consisted of 18 employees. On the way to his current position of General Manager, Chapell also worked in sales, quality assurance, and production management.
While Chapell was production manager, L&M’s Australia arm grew from a small $6 million company to a $20 million company. His stellar leadership during this time granted him the position of General Manager.
Fast forward 30 years, and Chapell has remained an outstanding source of growth in L&M’s successful worldwide operations. His admirable leadership skills and “old school” approach to management help his team do great work and feel appreciated for it.
“The greatest asset of this company is its people. The product is a great product, but you can’t build it without good people. And those good people have to run from the top to the bottom,” said Chapell.
Click here to read more about Richard Chapell.
Kerry Hecimovich: VP of Engineering
Kerry Hecimovich joined L&M Radiator in 1994 as an applications engineer after spending nine years in aviation and aerospace engineering. The year 2025 marks his 31st year with L&M Radiator.
With an eye for innovation and a heart for leadership, Hecimovich quickly became integral to the L&M Radiator team. In 2003, Hecimovich became L&M’s applications engineering manager. In 2023, he became the vice president of engineering.
Hecimovich’s role in shaping and growing the L&M engineering department cannot be understated. Hecimovich held leadership positions during several major transformations within the company, the most recent example being when Wabtec Corporation acquired L&M Radiator in 2023. His expertise and guidance were vital to the success of this transition of power.
Through an ever-changing global landscape, Hecimovich’s steady commitment to staying on the cutting-edge of solutions in heavy-duty heat exchange has helped L&M retain its status as the leader in innovation and durability for all industries that L&M provides solutions for, including oil and gas, mining, power generation, and transportation.
As one example, Hecimovich led L&M’s engineering department to success in designing cooling systems for fuel cells and battery thermal management, the newest frontier in green solutions for the mining industry.
For Kerry, the most rewarding part of the job was working with the great people at L&M, and directly with customers from all over the world to find a best-in-class solution to their problems.
Ryan Chapell: General Manager, L&M Australia
Ryan Chapell joined L&M Radiator in 2006. He worked as a welding apprentice for four years before moving to Hibbing, Minnesota for one year to learn about high-pressure and aluminum welding at the Hibbing plant. The goal was to learn all he could and bring that knowledge back to Australia.
Back in Australia, he became a team leader and welding foreman. In 2015, he spent a brief time as a sales representative before moving into customer service for nearly 10 years.
For the past two years, Chapell Jr. has been shadowing Chapell Sr. with the intention of becoming General Manager after Chapell Sr. retires.
“I’m thrilled to step into this role. At L&M, we’ve always been there when customers need us, and we want to make sure that our product works so well that they rarely do need us,” said Chapell Jr. “Internally, my goal is to help L&M employees enjoy what they do and provide people with job security. The manufacturing environment in Australia can be insecure. That’s not how we do things at L&M. People deserve to enjoy working and living in Perth.”
Chris Domogalla: Applications Engineering Manager
Since joining L&M Radiator as an engineer in 2013, Domogalla has worked with original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) around the world – such as Epiroc, Komatsu, Liebherr, and more – to design custom cooling systems specifically catered to their machines and applications.
In recent years, this task has widened to include green energy solutions for heavy-duty equipment.
“I believe L&M has the most knowledgeable and experienced engineering team, and I’m thrilled to lead us into this new era of thermal solutions for battery-powered equipment,” said Domogalla.
Click here to read more about Chris Domogalla.
Brian Pierzina: Design Engineering Manager
Brian Pierzina started at L&M Radiator in December 2011. His primary duties as an applications engineer involved developing cooling systems for Japanese and European original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), including a prototype autonomous haul truck for Komatsu. Komatsu displayed the truck at MinExpo 2025.
“As design engineering manager, I am hoping to develop the team into a critical support group for our mechanical designers, applications engineers, production engineers, and our overall production team,” said Pierzina. “I am also hoping to continue the great work that our mechanical designers do and improve efficiency by updating design standards and practices.”
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