CHS Capital announces Tim Vargo as the newly appointed President and CEO of Kele, Inc., a leading supplier of commercial HVAC and building automation interface products. Kele is a portfolio investment of CHS Private Equity V LP, a $1.3 billion investment fund formed in 2005.

“Tim's extensive leadership experience with growing distribution companies will prove to be an invaluable asset to our growth initiatives at Kele,” said David Hawkins, Partner at CHS Capital. “He is the right leader to implement the aggressive growth strategies we have planned for Kele.”

Previously, Mr. Vargo was the President and CEO of TruckPro, Inc., a heavy duty truck parts distributor. Under his leadership, TruckPro significantly improved sales strategies and store operations. Prior to TruckPro, he was the President and COO of AutoZone where he was instrumental in formulating and executing the growth strategy which took the company from 1,000 stores to 3,250 stores and sales from $1.5 billion to over $5.0 billion.

Headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee, Kele provides peripheral control products and services to the building automation systems industry. Kele’s product offering includes over 1,500 interface products, including sensors, transmitters, sensors, switches, gauges and relays from over 235 manufacturers. The company’s products can be integrated into pre-existing, new construction and retrofit systems. For additional information, please visit www.kele.com.

CHS Capital is a Chicago-based private equity firm with 22 years of experience investing in the middle market. Targeting well-managed companies with enterprise values between $75 - $500 million, CHS partners with management teams to focus on accelerating growth, enhancing capabilities and resources and positioning companies for attractive exits. CHS has specialized expertise in the Consumer & Business Services; Distribution; and Industrial, Infrastructure & Energy sectors and has completed 74 platform investments and 228 add-on investments. Founded in 1988, CHS has formed five private equity funds and has $2.3 billion of committed capital in active investment funds. For additional information about CHS Capital, please refer to the firm’s website at www.chsonline.com.