3M Fires Company Executive for Inappropriate Conduct Weeks After Promotion

WASHINGTON—3M has fired prominent company executive Michael Vale due to “inappropriate personal conduct and violation of company policy,” the maker of Post-it notes, industrial coatings and ceramics announced.

Vale was promoted to group president and chief business and country officer just last month. Vale worked at 3M for more than 30 years, according to an April 25 press release announcing his promotion, which said he would report to Chairman and CEO Mike Roman.

The St. Paul, Minnesota-based company announced on Monday that Vale was terminated on May 12. 3M did not specify many details surrounding the executive’s termination but noted that his inappropriate conduct and violation of policy was “unrelated to the company’s operations and financial performance.”

According to 3M’s Monday announcement, the company took “immediate action” after verifying the violation.

3M has initiated a search to find a replacement for Vale, the company said.

When contacted by The Associated Press on Monday, 3M declined to comment further.

Vale’s termination arrives just weeks after 3M announced that the company would be cutting thousands of jobs as part of restructing actions.

When announcing first-quarter results in April, 3M said that these actions were expected to impact about 6,000 positions worldwide, in addition to the reduction of 2,500 manufacturing roles announced in January.

For the first quarter, 3M reported earnings of $1.76 per share. Sales totaled $8 billion for the period.