He replaces John T Ryan III, who said in March he would retire as a full-time employee at the end of June. Ryan, who served in the position since 1991, will take over non-executive chairman responsibilities for the company.

Lambert previously held the seat of president and chief operating officer and will become the company's eighth chief executive in its 94-year history. In his new seat, he will continue to oversee MSA's global strategic initiatives and drive its efforts into the future.

“Our strategic focus worldwide is on enhancing MSA’s productivity, processes and reputation for product leadership, all of which are central in our effort to achieve new levels of customer loyalty," Lambert said.

“I am looking forward to this tremendous opportunity, with the support of John and the MSA board, the strong global management team we have in place and our team of dedicated MSA associates throughout the world."

Said the departing Ryan of his replacement: "He is a highly skilled leader, has contributed much to MSA in his 27 years with us and is very well qualified to lead the company going forward. Without question, Bill will have an excellent team with whom to work in the years ahead, both at the executive level and at all positions throughout this organisation in the many countries in which we have operations."

Lambert is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh as well as Penn State University, and also holds a professional engineer certification.

According to the company, Ryan’s grandfather, John T Ryan, and George H Deike co-founded MSA in 1914 and his father, John T Ryan Jr, took the company global and held the position of president and then chairman from 1952 to 1990.

The company now has 40 international locations. It had a record sales year of $US990 million in 2007.