-- David LeBlanc appointed President, Lincoln Electric International

-- George Blankenship named President, Lincoln Electric North America

-- Richard Seif to lead continued expansion of Global Automation

-- Gretchen Farrell elected Senior Vice President, Human Resources and Compliance

CLEVELAND, Aug. 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: LECO) today announced four new assignments in its executive management team.

"We are realigning our structure into two major geographic regions to more efficiently direct our resources and bolster our global market leadership position," said John M. Stropki, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "The major assignments announced today reflect the depth, breadth and talent of our executive management team and will help further strengthen Lincoln Electric. David LeBlanc and George Blankenship both have marketing and operations expertise and leadership qualities that will serve the Company well in their new roles of leading our International and North America operations, respectively. Gretchen Farrell adds responsibility for our global compliance program and will bring the same discipline she has applied to building our global human resources programs. Richard Seif will use his exceptional background in marketing and sales to expand our fast-growing automation segment and strengthen Lincoln's position for providing innovative welding solutions around the world."

David LeBlanc has been named to the newly created position of Senior Vice President, President of Lincoln Electric International. He will be responsible for all of Lincoln's welding businesses outside North America. This includes Europe, Russia, the Middle East, Asia Pacific, South America and Africa. Mr. LeBlanc has been President, Lincoln Electric Europe since 2005. He began his Lincoln career as a sales trainee in 1986, after graduating from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute with a degree in mechanical engineering. He then spent three-and-a-half years with General Electric and subsequently received an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1994. Mr. LeBlanc rejoined Lincoln in 1995 and was named General Manager of Lincoln Mexicana and was later promoted to President, Lincoln Electric Latin America.

George Blankenship has been promoted to Senior Vice President and President, Lincoln Electric North America. In this new role, Mr. Blankenship will be responsible for Lincoln Electric's North American welding business, which includes the United States, Canada and Mexico. Prior to his new assignment, he was President, Lincoln Cleveland and Senior Vice President of Global Engineering. Mr. Blankenship joined Lincoln in 1985 as an engineering trainee after earning a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from The Ohio State University.