Karl is an accomplished Senior Operating Executive with an impressive background of 40 years in the Aviation, Power Generation, and Oil & Gas Industries. Karl retired as the CEO of BrandSafway in December 2024.  Fessenden joined BrandSafway as President and CEO in 2020. The company is one of the largest and most reputable specialty contractors in the world, first founded more than 100 years ago. With a commitment to safety as its foremost value, BrandSafway provides the broadest range of solutions with the greatest depth of expertise to the industrial, commercial and infrastructure markets. Through a network of 360 strategic locations across 27 countries and more than 40,000 employees, BrandSafway delivers a full range of forming, shoring, scaffolding, work access and industrial service solutions. The company is privately owned, headquartered in Atlanta, and generated over $5 billion in revenue in 2024.

Previous roles included President and COO of MB Aerospace, President and Chief Executive Officer of CHC Helicopter, a global leader in offshore transport, search and rescue, and rotorcraft MRO.  Before joining CHC, he spent 20 years at GE in the Aviation and Power Generation businesses. He led GE’s largest industrial services P&L – Power Generation Services (PGS). PGS had revenues exceeding $8B, with 7500 employees operating in over 100 countries. Other key roles at GE included overseeing the integration of the Alstom power-generation business, the largest acquisition in the company’s history at the time, as well as several key plant management and Six Sigma leadership responsibilities.

Karl is currently the Executive Chairman of NAEHS a Gryphon Investors Portfolio home services holding company comprised of Right Time and Southern HVAC. Right Time operates a house of brands across Canada and is the largest independent residential HVAC services provider in Canada. Southern HVAC operates a house of brands and is the leading HVAC services consolidator focused on the southeastern U.S.