The board of directors of industrial distributor R S Hughes Co. announced this week it has elected Bill Matthews to CEO.

Matthews replaces Pete Biocini,” who passed away after a brief illness in November,” the company said. Biocini started at R S Hughes in 1982 as a sales management trainee and became the company’s president in 2001. He was promoted to CEO in January 2018.

“He was an obvious leader in every position he held and quickly became an important part of the leadership team at the company,” R S Hughes said in a statement. “He set the pace for the growth and success of R S Hughes becoming a major player in the industrial distribution world.  Pete was very dedicated to the industrial distribution business and during his career, R.S. Hughes grew from $20 million in annual sales to $430 million. His passing was sudden, and he will certainly be missed by all those who knew him.”

Matthews worked for 3M’s industrial businesses for 35 years and has been on the R S Hughes board of directors since 2007. Matthews started at 3M in sales for the abrasive division and moved up through sales management.

He later integrated the sales force of the industrial divisions of 3M before becoming managing director of the 3M industrial businesses in Europe. He retired from 3M as the sales VP of the company’s industrial businesses.