Veteran Operational Executive to Lead Expanded Role Scaling Fire Business Across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa
HUNTSVILLE, Ala., April 13, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Lakeland Industries, Inc. ("Lakeland Fire + Safety" or "Lakeland") (NASDAQ: LAKE), a leading global manufacturer of protective clothing and apparel for industry, healthcare and first responders, today announced the promotion of Kevin Rae to Executive Vice President, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (“EMEA”) Fire Sales, leading Lakeland’s Fire business across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, with direct responsibility for the Company’s Eagle, Jolly, and LHD brands.
Kevin Rae brings more than 20 years of leadership experience in personal protective equipment (PPE) and fire safety across the UK and EMEA. Since joining Lakeland in 2022, he has served as Vice President, EMEA Fire and Global M&A Integration, where he has been instrumental in shaping the company’s Fire strategy across the region and integrating key acquisitions into a unified operating platform. He also serves as Managing Director of Eagle Technical Products Ltd, a position he has held since 2013. Throughout his career, he has built a reputation for delivering complex, high-impact initiatives that advance innovation, strengthen regulatory compliance, and enhance end-user protection in demanding environments. His combination of technical expertise and strategic leadership has enabled him to drive operational excellence while building and leading high-performing, cross-functional teams across multiple geographies.
“Kevin has been central to building our Fire platform into what it is today, and he will continue to play a key leadership role in driving growth, strengthening customer relationships, and advancing our position as a premier global fire safety platform,” said Jim Jenkins, President and Chief Executive Officer of Lakeland Industries. “He understands the customer, the product, and the operational detail required to execute at a high level. Kevin’s leadership continues to strengthen our global Fire platform, enhancing operational integration, elevating safety standards, and positioning the company for long-term, sustainable growth. This promotion reflects both his leadership to date and the critical role he will play as we continue to scale our Fire business across EMEA.”
Rae added, “I am proud of what our team has built across Eagle, Jolly, and LHD, and excited about the opportunity ahead with a strong foundation, a differentiated portfolio, and a clear path to growth. I look forward to continuing to work closely with our teams and customers to expand our presence and deliver best-in-class fire protection solutions across the region and to providing updates on EMEA on our upcoming quarterly conference call on April 16.”
About Lakeland Fire + Safety
Lakeland Fire + Safety manufactures and sells a comprehensive line of fire services and industrial protective clothing and accessories for the industrial and first responder markets. In addition, we provide decontamination, repair and rental services that complement our fire services portfolio. Our products are sold globally by our in-house sales teams, our customer service group, and authorized independent sales representatives to a strategic global network of selective fire and industrial distributors and wholesale partners. Our authorized distributors supply end users across various industries, including integrated oil, chemical/petrochemical, automobile, transportation, steel, glass, construction, smelting, cleanroom, janitorial, pharmaceutical, and high-tech electronics manufacturers, as well as scientific, medical laboratories, and the utilities industry. In addition, we supply federal, state and local governmental agencies and departments, including fire and law enforcement, airport crash rescue units, the Department of Defense, the Department of Homeland Security and the Centers for Disease Control. Internationally, we sell to a mix of end-users directly and to industrial distributors, depending on the particular country and market. In addition to the United States, sales are made into more than 50 foreign countries, the majority of which were into China, the European Economic Community ("EEC"), Canada, Chile, Argentina, Commonwealth of Independent States (“CIS”) Region, Colombia, Mexico, Ecuador, India, Uruguay, Middle East, Southeast Asia, Australia, Hong Kong and New Zealand.
For more information about Lakeland, please visit the Company's website at www.lakeland.com.
"Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995
This press release contains estimates, predictions, opinions, goals and other "forward-looking statements" as that phrase is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements include, without limitation, references to the Company's predictions or expectations of future business or financial performance as well as its goals and objectives for future operations, financial and business trends, business prospects, and management's expectations for earnings, revenues, expenses, inventory levels, capital levels, liquidity levels, or other future financial or business performance, strategies or expectations, including without limitation our M&A strategy. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, which address Lakeland's expectations of sources or uses for capital, or which express the Company's expectation for the future with respect to financial performance or operating strategies, can be identified as forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions as described from time to time in press releases and Forms 8-K, registration statements, quarterly and annual reports and other reports and filings filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission or made by management. As a result, there can be no assurance that Lakeland's future results will not be materially different from those described herein as "believed," "projected," "planned," "intended," "anticipated," "can," "estimated" or "expected," or other words which reflect the current view of the Company with respect to future events. We caution readers that these forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof. The Company hereby expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any such statements to reflect any change in the Company's expectations or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which such statement is based, except as may be required by law.
Investor Relations
Chris Tyson
Executive Vice President
MZ Group - MZ North America
949-491-8235
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www.mzgroup.us