Insulation industry news from Global Insulation

UAE: Pearl Polyurethane has newly appointed Oliver Bruns, Michael Friede and Wilhelm Lamberts to its board. Chemical Industry Digest News has reported that the new board members’ experience collectively spans various sectors and industries, bringing broad and deep expertise to the polyurethane (PUR) producer’s strategic guidance and oversight as it expands internationally and into new verticals.

Bruns has over 10 years’ PUR industry experience with Germany-based Bayer AG and Covestro, formerly known as Bayer MaterialScience. This included a role as managing director of Bayer’s Czech Republic-based PUR system house for Eastern Europe. Bruns currently also holds a full-time CEO position at Neveon, a leading global integrated foam group that supplies PUR flexible and composite foams for a wide range of applications.

Friede started his career at Bayer AG in 2001 and held various senior executive roles at Bayer MaterialScience and then Covestro, including global head of coatings, adhesives and specialities. He then moved to Netherlands-based AkzoNobel, where he worked as chief commercial officer (CCO) of performance coatings.

Lamberts’ career also spans multiple executive roles at Bayer AG and Covestro, most recently as the former’s strategy project manager and senior vice president, head of elastometers and the latter’s innovation project manager.

Belgium: Dominique Bossan has stepped into the roles of head of Knauf Insulation and member of Knauf Insulation Europe/Middle East/Africa’s management committee. Bossan first joined Knauf Insulation in 2003 and has since held roles as Eastern Europe regional managing director and as a member of Knauf Gypsum Western Europe, South America and Israel’s management. He now returns to Knauf Insulation’s headquarters in Visé, Belgium, to take over leadership from Jean-Claude Carlin, who has held the position since 2016.

Bossan said “Jean-Claude, the management team and everyone at Knauf Insulation should be exceptionally proud of what has been achieved in recent years. I am now looking forward to maximising this success to create exciting new opportunities in the future — a future defined by our leadership and innovation For a Better World.”

General partner Alexander Knauf said “The Knauf Group management is delighted to welcome Dominique to this exciting role. He is an exceptional leader who knows our business extremely well. We are confident he will build on the outstanding results Jean-Claude, and the company, has achieved in recent years.”

UK: Avonside Group has appointed Bill Rumble as the managing director of its energy division. He first became the unit’s divisional director following the group’s acquisition of BillSaveUK. The company said that he had led a restructuring and refocusing of the operation resulting in a profitable and scalable business with industry leading levels of quality and service. Avonside Energy, the energy division of Avonside Group, suppliers insulation products to housebuilders in the UK.

Rumble holds a degree in manufacturing and engineering from the University of Nottingham followed by an apprenticeship with the Ministry of Defence. He held posts at the Ford, Aston Martin and Mark Group before setting up BillSaveUK in 2016.

US: The Reflective Insulation Manufacturers Association (RIMA) has appointed seven new directors to its board for a two-year term from the start of 2021. Prodex business director Sergio Luconi will serve as president, with Bill Lippy, Fi-Foil serving as vice president and Ralph Dale, Dunmore as secretary and treasurer. Dan Russell, Monty Millspaugh, Bobby Bird and former president Doug Kinniger also join the board.

US: Stepan has appointed Scott Behrens to the roles of president and chief operating officer (COO) with effect from January 2021.

Behrens began working for Stepan in 1995 as a senior product development chemist. He has held managerial roles since 1998 and gained a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Northwestern University in 2003. He also holds a Bachelor of Science (BSc) degree from Illinois State University.

US: Johns Manville (JM) has appointed Bob Wamboldt as its president and chief executive officer (CEO) with effect from 1 September 2020. He succeeds Mary Rhinehart, the company’s current chairman, president and CEO, who will retain the role of chairman.

Wamboldt joined Johns Manville in 2003 and became president of JM’s Insulation Systems business in 2017. He earlier led the Engineered Products North America and Roofing Systems businesses at JM. Wamboldt is also chairman of the North American Insulation Manufacturers Association and previously served as president of the Asphalt Roofing Manufacturers Association. Before joining Johns Manville, Wamboldt worked for 16 years at PPG Industries, where he held a variety of positions in the company’s Fiber Glass and Coatings divisions. He earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Lehigh University.

Greg Clarke will become president of JM’s Insulation Systems business with effect from 1 September 2020. He became JM’s Senior Vice President and chief financial officer (CFO) when he rejoined the company in 2013. In this role, he led JM’s finance organisation, global procurement and logistics operations, and corporate development activities. He previously worked for Johns Manville from 1997 to 2002 and was Vice President and General Manager of the company’s Building Insulation and Commercial & Industrial Insulation divisions.

Before returning to Johns Manville, Clarke was CFO and a director at AeroGrow International, an early-stage consumer products company, and president and CEO at Ankmar, a building products company. Earlier in his career, he held finance leadership and strategic planning roles at PepsiCo and The Coleman Company. Clarke earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from Amherst College and an MBA from Columbia University Graduate School of Business. He serves on the AeroGrow board of directors and is a member of the board of Alumni and Friends of the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado.

UK: SIG has appointed Ian Ashton as permanent group financial officer with effect from July 2020. He succeeds Kath Kearney‐Croft, who assumed the role of Interim chief financial officer (CFO) in late February 2020.

Ashton joins SIG from Low & Bonar, where he has served as group financial officer. Prior to that, he was CFO of Labviva, a US‐based technology company. He worked for 20 years at Smith & Nephew until late 2017, undertaking various financial roles of increasing seniority in the UK, the US and Asia. His last role was CFO, Global Operations, and prior to that Ashton served as CFO of their Advanced Surgical Devices Division. He is a qualified chartered accountant and began his career at Ernst & Young.

The building materials supplier has announced the appointment of Simon King as a non‐executive director. Recently King served on the Travis Perkins executive board and held the position of chief operating officer of Wickes. Prior to that he held various operational roles at Walmart, Savola Group and Tesco.

Denmark: Rockwool International has appointed Jessica Jonasson as Senior Vice President for Group Human Resources and a member of group management. She succeeds Camilla Grönholm, who after eight years with Rockwool, has decided to return to Finland, spend more time with family and to pursue non-executive work.

Jonasson, a Swedish national, currently holding the position of Vice President for Human Resources at ASSA ABLOY Entrance Systems, based in Sweden. She is expected to start her new position at Rockwool in August 2020 after a transitional period following Grönholm’s departure at the end of May 2020.

UK: The Insulation Manufacturers Association (IMA) has appointed Simon Blackham as its new Technical Committee Chair. He will take up the role in mid-March 2020. Blackham works as Recticel Insulation’s technical manager. He started working for the company in 2019. He holds over 15 years’ experience in the construction industry, with a focus on the insulation sector. IMA is a representative body for the rigid polyisocyanurate (PIR) and polyurethane (PUR) insulation industry in the UK.

US: Huntsman has reorganised its spray polyurethanes foam (SPF) insulation business, combining subsidiaries Demilec and Icyene-Lapolla under a new leadership team. The company has named as divisional presidents Simon Baker, who will oversee operations in Canada and fast-growing global markets, and Doug Kramer, who will be responsible for the United States. Huntsman polyurethanes president Tony Hankins said, “To bring the two businesses together as one enables Huntsman to provide an unmatched offering of open- and closed-cell insulation products and accelerates the globalisation of our SPF platform.”