SilcoTek Names Barone President in First Leadership Transition Since Company’s Founding

SilcoTek, the Benner Township-based developer and global provider of advanced coatings, has named Gary Barone as its new president and “head coach.”

Barone succeeds company founder Paul Silvis, who has moved to the advisory role of chairperson, according to a news release.

It marks the first leadership change for SilcoTek since its inception in 2009, when it was spun off from fellow Silvis-founded, Bellefonte-area business Restek.

After earning a chemical engineering degree from Penn State in 1990, Barone joined Restek as a research and development chemist and led a team that developed a way coat metal surfaces to make them behave like glass. It was an endeavor that over 20 years turned into its own successful business unit with a diverse customer base and eventually resulted in the spin-off of SilcoTek as an independent company focused on innovative coatings.

Barone’s appointment to the top leadership position wasn’t so much about his technical and business bona fides, but rather his leadership skills, Silvis said in a statement.

“Gary is a servant leader who understands that his primary role is developing SilcoTek’s next generation of leaders and upholding the employee-focused culture that has brought us this far,” Silvis said. “A leader is measured only by the success and growth of their people. Gary’s passion for our coating technology is unquestioned, but his vision for maintaining our award-winning culture where employees have family-sustaining jobs that they love coming to every day is why he has earned the role of head coach.”

Head coach, a position title also used at Restek, is what any company’s top leader should be, Silvis said.

“A head coach cannot play the game on the field,” he said. “Instead, they put the right players in the right positions; provide training, tools, and opportunities for them to become star players; encourages an atmosphere of support and honesty; helps to define the team’s strategy for winning – all for the sake of creating a championship team that each member can be proud of.”

As SilcoTek plans to transition to full employee ownership under an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) over the next several years, Barone said his priorities are focused on the culture of the company, which is located in Benner Commerce Park.

“My priorities will be to continue building SilcoTek’s culture into one with an unmatched passion for both employees and customers, to be the very best at coatings and empowering our employees as soon-to-be owners,” he said.