Michel TheninPresident at Fluid Air

Michel Thenin is currently President of Fluid Air, a division of Spraying Systems Co®, the world's leader in spray technology. He is known as a P&L executive whose approach is geared toward value creation through innovation.

Founded in 1983, Fluid Air® specializes in solid dosage technology. Michel led the team at Spraying Systems when it acquired Fluid Air in 2009 and has been employed by Spraying Systems Co® for 25 years.

During his career at Spraying Systems Co®, Michel has held several positions in the US and abroad, beginning as a project engineer at the Wheaton, IL headquarters. He then took a management and business development role in France, where he helped Spraying Systems Co® develop new market opportunities, restructure the European sales operation, acquire distributors, and set up subsidiaries. He soon returned to the US, where he dynamized existing Spraying Systems Co® entities, managed acquisitions, product transfer to overseas facilities, and developed markets globally, including environmental, petrochemical, food, pharmaceutical, and biotechnology.

Michel's approach to managing a business entity focuses on rationalization, value creation, and innovation, helping to position it in the high-end market space instead of a commodity offering. Under his leadership, the entities he managed developed 41 inventions, leading to 236 patents issued globally. Michel was a direct contributor to 12 of these inventions, leading to 79 patents where he was recognized as an inventor.

Michel earned a Diplome d’Ingenieur from the French engineering school, l’Ecole Nationale D’ingenieurs de Tarbes, and a DEA (Master of Advanced Studies) from the University of Talence, France. He also earned an MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management, Northwestern University. Michel has also worked for the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales as a quality engineer on the Ariane 4 launcher Team in Kourou, French Guyana.

Michel is currently a member of the Industrial Advisory Board for the University of Illinois-Chicago's College of Engineering, and he lives in Chicago with his wife, Anne.