Paul McAndrew
President and CEO / Mueller Water Products
For decades, Mueller Water Products has played a critical role in North America’s water systems, with its valves, hydrants, and fittings forming the backbone of municipal infrastructure.
Now, the company is shifting into a new gear, defined not just by the movement of water, but by the flow of data.
“We’re in a great position in terms of where we are spec’d in the North American water infrastructure,” CEO Paul McAndrew told CEO NA Magazine in an exclusive interview. “But there’s still an opportunity to use more smart water solutions, allowing utilities to measure pressure, detect leaks, and become much more data-driven in how they manage their networks.”
This new impetus reflects a broader transformation across the industry. While adoption of digital tools has historically been slow, partly due to the low cost of water in North America, traction is building as utilities look for more efficient, resilient, and sustainable ways to operate. Helping drive that momentum is the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which has added fresh urgency — and fresh funding — to the modernization effort. For Mueller, that creates a significant opportunity.
“I think that allows us to be on the front end of that kind of technology curve,” McAndrew explains. “Municipalities have been slow to adopt, but that’s only a matter of time until we start to see more adoption of technology in water infrastructure.”
As that digital transition unfolds, Mueller is expanding beyond its traditional hardware roots, working with utilities, distributors, and infrastructure partners to integrate sensors, connectivity, and analytics into water networks. The result is a company repositioning itself, not just as a manufacturer of essential components, but as a key player in smarter and more connected infrastructure.
“I still think there’s an opportunity to use more smart water solutions, allowing the utilities to think about where they are measuring pressure or leak.”
Key Water Infrastructure Player
McAndrew became President and CEO of Mueller Water Products in February 2026, succeeding Martie Edmunds Zakas after a 19-year tenure. His appointment followed a deliberate succession process: he had served as President and COO since August 2023, and as EVP and COO before that, overseeing global manufacturing and supply chain.
Previously, he built his career at large industrials, most recently at Emerson, where he served as Vice President and General Manager of Professional Tools and played a key role in the acquisition of Textron’s Tools and Test business in 2018. Before that, he spent nearly 15 years at Kautex Textron in various operating roles across multiple countries.
That experience in large-scale operations, P&L management, and transformation shapes the playbook he has brought to Mueller, with a strong emphasis on data-driven operational discipline.
Those fundamentals are backed by strong numbers. In fiscal 2025, Mueller reported record net sales of $1.43 billion, up 8.7% year-over-year, and adjusted EBITDA of $326.2 million, up 14.6%.
The company operates across two segments, Water Flow Solutions and Water Management Solutions, with a portfolio spanning traditional hardware to smart water platforms. Echologics focuses on acoustic leak detection, while the Sentryx platform aggregates and visualizes network data.
“A three-wheel car is not very useful, so some suppliers can always have a knock-on effect of not being able to finish a product.”
Building for Growth
Mueller’s growth strategy is built around organic investment and strategic moves. On the organic side, key drivers include commercial team investments, operational discipline, and an expanding specialty valve business, particularly large engineered-to-order valves requiring advanced technical expertise.
The backdrop is favorable. The IIJA committed $55 billion to water infrastructure across the United States, and Mueller’s products and services sit directly in the path of that spending.
“Our products are right in that bullseye of what’s going to be needed to invest in the infrastructure,” McAndrew notes.
The company is also pursuing adjacent markets and higher-value solutions, with acquisitions complementing organic growth.
Its two largest channel partners are public companies actively expanding through acquisitions, creating additional demand for Mueller’s broad product portfolio. As the only manufacturer in its peer group offering a full range from hydrants to smart water infrastructure, the company holds a structural advantage in serving these growing distribution networks.
The Operational Excellence Imperative
McAndrew’s industrial background is most visible in the operational transformation underway across Mueller’s manufacturing footprint.
The focus is on a disciplined, data-driven approach to identifying efficiencies—standardizing metrics, reducing variability, and addressing bottlenecks through common tools and KPIs.
Central to this effort is a dedicated operational excellence team deploying Kaizen projects across manufacturing sites. These initiatives bring together cross-functional teams to drive targeted improvements and scale best practices across the organization.
That effort is led by Darin Harvey, SVP of Operations and Supply Chain, who brings experience from ADS, Honeywell, Foster Wheeler, and Danaher. The results are already visible: adjusted EBITDA margins have expanded, with further gains expected.
“We’re not the experts in all materials, and so there’s a big piece of getting stronger supplier relationships to allow them to have a bigger part to play in our strategic initiatives going forward.”
External pressures remain. Tariffs across multiple sourcing regions are expected to weigh on costs in fiscal 2026, while the pace of federal infrastructure funding disbursement could affect near-term demand. McAndrew frames these as challenges the company’s operating model is designed to absorb.
Standing Out in a Competitive Market
Mueller’s position is built on brand strength, product breadth, and engineering depth.
It is the only manufacturer in its peer group offering a full portfolio from hydrants to service brass and smart water infrastructure. That advantage is supported by more than 400 active patents and a direct sales force with deep access to municipal decision-makers.
Mueller Co.’s brands hold leading positions in fire hydrants, gate valves, and butterfly and ball valves in North America. Its smart water capabilities are becoming an increasingly important differentiator, particularly as utilities modernize aging infrastructure and adopt more data-driven approaches to network management.
Strengthening the Supply Chain
Mueller’s record performance is supported by a significantly upgraded supply chain function.
Recent investments have brought in higher-level talent and shifted the organization toward strategic supplier partnerships, long-term contracts, and a more focused supplier base.
Led by Krutin Shah, VP of Supply Chain Management and Procurement, the function has evolved from reactive purchasing to a more integrated, strategic role, improving service levels, reducing complexity, and positioning suppliers as partners
in innovation.
The scale of operations is substantial. With $913 million in cost of goods sold for $1.43 billion in total sales last fiscal year, Mueller relies on a complex mix of raw materials and components, from iron inputs for its foundries to specialty materials used in its proprietary lost-foam casting process.
“Commercial excellence is just as critical as operational excellence. Those customer relationships that we’ve fostered over many, many years are really critical and allow us to be strong in as many markets as we can be.”
Indirect spending is equally critical, particularly for maintenance and equipment reliability across a capital-intensive manufacturing footprint.
Technology is playing a growing role in managing that complexity, including early applications of AI to improve maintenance efficiency and troubleshooting.
“We continue to drive operational excellence, which makes doing business with us — with our channel partners and end customers — seamless, and makes it easier for them, which allows us to drive share gain.”
The Road Ahead
The fundamentals that drew McAndrew to Mueller remain strong: trusted brands, deep customer relationships, and a critical role in infrastructure. The tailwinds behind the IIJA are real. What’s changing is the pace, as digital transformation accelerates across water networks.
That momentum is reflected in the company’s performance: record sales, expanding EBITDA, and $172 million in free cash flow in fiscal 2025. For customers and partners, it means a supplier that is faster, more responsive, and better positioned to support growth.
For McAndrew, however, progress is ultimately about people. At the plant’s 50th anniversary celebration in Albertville, Alabama, one employee was marking his own 50-year milestone with the company. “It just tells you the culture and the talent that we have in the organization,” McAndrew notes.
Those relationships—across customers, partners, and employees—continue to drive performance.
With that foundation, Mueller Water Products is positioned not just to sustain its leadership in North American water infrastructure, but to shape what that leadership looks like in a more connected, data-driven era.
