SIAD Americas is the Americas subsidiary of SIAD Macchine Impianti S.p.A. (SIAD MI). SIAD MI is the wholly owned engineering subsidiary of SIAD S.p.A., a large regional industrial gas company founded in Bergamo, Italy in 1927 by Quirino Sestini and Bernardo Sestini. The headquarters of both SIAM MI and SIAD are in Bergamo. SIAD MI is a leading producer of industrial gas related equipment, including cryogenic air separation units, small scale natural gas liquefiers, CO2 capture and liquefaction units and reciprocating compressors for the process gas industry.
Still today a family-run business, it has been led by Chairman and CEO Bernardo Sestini (namesake of one of the founders) since earlier this year when Dr. Roberto Sestini, his father and Chairman, passed away. Bernardo became the group’s CEO in 2018. He represents the fourth generation of the Sestini family to run the globally focused business. The company generates more than €1.1 billion in annual revenue and employs more than 2,200 people worldwide. It has supplied more than 900 plants, and roughly 5,000 reciprocating process gas and oil free air, oxygen and hydrogen compressors installed and functioning today across the globe.
The company’s Houston office is headed by industry veteran Ed Hotard. He serves as chairman and CEO of SIAD Americas and is leading the company’s entry into the U.S. and the Americas markets.
He first met Dr. Roberto Sestini in 1974 when the company he was working for did a deal with SIAD. Over the years that followed, their professional relationship and friendship kept them in touch. And in 2010 the family asked him to join the company in an advisory role which has transitioned into a full-time position.
The Sestini’s are committed to “sustainability and being a good corporate citizen,” says Ed. “In every location, they support the local community and get involved with local chambers of commerce.” It was only natural, he explains, that he and SIAD would become members of the Italy-America Chamber of Commerce Texas, head-quartered in Houston.
After working with the Sestini family for so many years, “they often joke I’m a like a member of the family,” Ed says. “Not sure if it is the Sestini family or the SIAD family or both.”
The SIAD and the Sestini are based in Bergamo in northern Italy where some of Italy’s most lauded restaurants and wineries are to be found. After the Sestini introduced him to the legendary Da Vittorio restaurant there, the spot has become a favorite dining destination.
“Working with Italians is an enjoyment because they work hard and are successful, but they also know when to stop working and enjoy life. One day they said to me,” recalls Ed, “you seem to live to work. We work to live!”
