Insulation industry news from Global Insulation

US: Owens Corning has appointed Prith Gandhi its chief financial officer (CFO). He will take over from Michael McMurray on 23 October 2019, and serve until an external search produces a permanent successor. Gandhi, current vice president of corporate strategy, has 25 years’ financial services experience. The company announces its third quarter results for 2019 on 23 October 2019.

US: Owens Corning has appointed the former Cabot Corporation executive vice president, chief financial officer and president of the Americas region Eddie Cordeiro to its board of directors. He will be tasked with bringing his 25 years’ financial and operational experience to the operations of the global insulation, roofing and fibreglass composite materials leader.

France: Knauf Insulation France has appointed Yann Ditsch as its managing director. He holds experience in the French construction market having worked as Country Sales Director for Knauf in France since 2011. Prior to this he worked for Saint-Gobain, Rockwool France and US Gypsum. Ditsch, aged 50 years, holds a masters degree in marketing and communication from the ESCP Europe (École supérieure de commerce de Paris).

US: Kingspan Insulated Panels has appointed Quincy McBride as its director of marketing for North America. He will be based out of Kingspan's DeLand headquarters in Florida.

Previously, McBride served as marketing communications manager at Morris Group International. He also worked as a marketing communications manager at Proactive Management Consulting, event sales manager at InterContinental Hotels Group and as an account executive at Pearson.

UK: The Insulation Manufacturers Association (IMA) has appointed Stuart Norris as its president. The association is a representative body for the rigid polyisocyanurate (PIR) and polyurethane (PUR) insulation industry in the UK.

Norris is a Senior Product Development Engineer at Portakabin where he is involved in the design and delivery of both temporary and permanent offsite building solutions across a wide range of building sectors. He holds a degree in Product Design from the University of Huddersfield. He also sits on the Technical Committee for the Modular and Portable Building Association (MPBA).

US: Owens Corning has appointed Todd Fister as the president of its insulation division from 15 July 2019. He succeeds Julian Francis, who will become president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Beacon Roofing Supply. Fister will report directly to Brian Chambers, the president and CEO of Owens Corning.

Fister currently serves as Vice President, Global Insulation and Strategy. Prior to this role, he served as Vice President and Managing Director for European Insulation and Global Foamglas. Before joining Owens Corning in 2014, he worked in various marketing, strategy and finance positions at MeadWestvaco and Kimberly-Clark. Fister began his career at Procter & Gamble, where he served in multiple finance roles. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Miami University and a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

US: Johns Manville has appointed John Vasuta as the president of its Engineered Products business. He will lead the business that manufactures glass fibre nonwovens, polyester spunbonds and glass fibres for the building and construction industry, as well as for automotive, industrial and residential applications. It operates manufacturing plants in the US, Germany, Slovakia and China.

Vasuta most recently worked at Bridgestone Corp. as president and managing director, Firestone Building Products International as well as Global Senior Vice President, Firestone Building Products. He joined Bridgestone as Deputy General Counsel and later held a variety of executive-level jobs, including president of Bridgestone’s 250 commercial store division and vice president of International Sales and Operations for building products. He holds a bachelor’s degree in engineering, an MBA and a Juris Doctorate from the University of Akron.

US: The National Insulation Association (NIA) has appointed Dana Vlk as its new president. The new directors and executive committee of the association assumed their positions for the 2019 – 2020 term at the NIA's 64th Annual Convention that took place in Nassau in the Bahamas.

The association’s 2019 – 2020 executive committee includes: Dana Vlk, Distribution International – president; John Lamberton, Irex Contracting Group - president-elect; Dave Cox, Owens Corning – secretary/treasurer; Joe Leo, Atlantic Contracting & Specialties – assistant treasurer; and Dan Bofinger, Specialty Products & Insulation - immediate past president.

US: Kathy Miks, spray foam Product Manager at Johns Manville, has been elected as the Vice Chair of the Spray Foam Coalition, an organisation of companies that produce and sell polyurethane spray foam insulation systems and the chemicals and equipment necessary for their use. As Vice Chair, Miks will work alongside the organisation’s Chair to lead efforts aimed at educating and promoting spray foam and its benefits. She will serve as Vice Chair through December 2019, and then transition to the position of Chair through 2021.

Miks is an accomplished industry professional, bringing more than 18 years of experience to the role. In her current position as Product Manager, Miks oversees the spray polyurethane foam and polyiso wall system portfolios for the Johns Manville Building Insulation division. In addition to her full-time role with Johns Manville and new responsibilities with the Spray Foam Coalition, Miks is on the steering committee for the Polyisocyanurate Insulation Manufacturers Association. Miks holds a bachelor’s degree in engineering from the Colorado School of Mines.

The Spray Foam Coalition was founded in 2010 by the American Chemistry Council’s Center for the Polyurethanes Industry to promote the use of spray polyurethane foam and its benefits in US applications, provide a forum for helping shape public policy and support the safe manufacture, transport and application of the product.

Belgium: Femke de Jong has been appointed as Climate & Energy Manager at European Insulation Manufacturers Association (EURIMA). She will be responsible for all the climate and energy related topics within the multidisciplinary EURIMA-staff relating to energy efficiency first, energy efficiency in buildings, building renovation, the implementation of the Clean Energy for All Europeans Package, Long Term Climate & Energy Strategies, the European Union (EU) Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) and the support of and cooperation in EURIMA’s partners and allies network.

De Jong is a graduate in Econometrics. She holds over a decade of experience in climate, energy and environmental policies in consultancy, politics and the non-profit sector. She worked for almost five years at Carbon Market Watch as the organisation's policy director. Before that, she was a political advisor in the European Parliament and a researcher at environmental consultancy CE Delft.