Gypsum industry news

North America: France-based Saint-Gobain has appointed Steve Williams president of its newly created construction chemicals North Americas unit. The unit combines GCP Applied Technology's speciality construction chemicals business and Chryso. Saint-Gobain acquired both GCP Applied Technology and Chryso in 2021.

Steve Williams previously worked as Chryso's North America president from 2019. Prior to this he was cement producer Titan America's sales and marketing director between 2012 and 2015. Williams holds a bachelor of science degree from Brigham Young University and a master’s in business administration (MBA) from the University of Florida.

Canada: Saint-Gobain has named Julie Bonamy Racine as the chief executive officer (CEO) of its subsidiary CertainTeed Canada. She succeeds Richard Juggery, who led the company for four years before being named CEO of Saint-Gobain Benelux in July 2022. She will also be CertainTeed Canada's first female CEO.

Bonamy previously worked as the CEO of Saint-Gobain Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. She joined the company in 2017 in Paris as Group Vice President, Strategy & Planning. Earlier in her career, Bonamy worked in the public sector, most recently as an adviser for the budget and digital sector for the Office of the French Minister for the Economy. She is a graduate of the Paris Institute of Political Studies (IEP de Paris) and the National School of Public Administration (Ecole Nationale d'Administration).

Belgium: Eurogypsum’s board of directors has elected Jörg Ertle president of the association. The Etex head of corporate social responsibility will succeed Saint-Gobain Group vice-president for sustainable development Emmanuel Normant, who now takes over the position of Eurogypsum vice-president. Knauf Group Central Europe managing director and Knauf Gips chair Christoph Dorn will serve as the association’ new treasurer.

Ertle studied mining and mineral engineering at RWTH University Aachen and holds a Ph.D in environment technology from Berlin Technical University. He has over 20 years’ gypsum industry experience, including time spent in management roles Lafarge before and after its acquisition by Etex. Having previously headed Etex’s worldwide gypsum sourcing, Ertle took on his current role in the group in 2019. He has also participated in different Eurogypsum working groups concerning raw material policy, and has chaired the association’s Environment and Sustainability Committee since 2018.

Ertle said “I am taking over Eurogypsum’s presidency at a challenging time for Europe, with a global climate and environmental challenge, as well as a particularly unstable international environment. Economic actors are working under increased regulatory and financial pressure.” He added “I am convinced that gypsum solutions are a strong enabler to facilitate this transition, supporting the ambitions of the European Green Deal.”

Germany: Knauf Gips has partnered with Canada-based lithium hydroxide producer Rock Tech Lithium and waste management company Papenburg Entsorgung Ost to found the Institute for Technologies and Economics of Lithium (ITEL) at Halle (Saale) in Saxony-Anhalt. The institute aims to develop an inter-sector, CO2-neutral recycling economy for lithium in Germany. This will include the use of gypsum from lithium hydroxide production in gypsum wallboard production. ITEL has appointed Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg academics Ulrich Blum and Ralf Wehrspohn as its managing directors.

ITEL said “The switch to electromobility will make Germany the central location for battery production in Europe and thus also for the production of the crucial precursor lithium hydroxide. The reduction and reuse of the by-products generated during the refinement of lithium is the focus of the institute's work. Another focus is research into new production steps to optimise by-product value creation.”

US: Pacific Coast Building Products gypsum wallboard subsidiary PABCO Building Products has appointed Phil Bonnell as its new president from 1 July 2021. Bonnell began working at Pacific Coast Building Products in 2003 as Basalite Northwest and Canada operations general manager. He joined PABCO Building Products in 2017 as gypsum and paper senior vice president, and also took over responsibility of the company’s roofing operations in April 2021. Bonnell has a degree from Colorado State University and an MBA from Pepperdine University.

Belgium: Etex has appointed Bernard Delvaux as its chief executive officer (CEO) with effect from 1 January 2022. He will succeed Paul Van Oyen when he retires at the end of 2021. Delvaux has held senior executive roles for over 30 years in large groups such as bpost, Proximus and Sonaca. Van Oyen joined Etex in 1990 as a laboratory and project manager active in the research and development department. He became the CEO of Etex on 2015.

US: The Gypsum Association has elected Gregory McCown as the chair of its board of directors for 2020 – 2021. McCown is the Regional Manufacturing Manager – Eastern US for CertainTeed Gypsum. Other appointments include National Gypsum’s Craig Robertson as vice-chair, Pabco Gypsum’s Emil Kopilovich, as treasurer and the Gypsum Association's Stephen H Meima continues as the secretary. USG’s Albert R Zucco is the past chair of the board. All terms are for one year and are effective from 1 May 2020.

US: Eagle Materials Inc. has announced that Mary Ricciardello has been appointed to the company’s Board of Directors. Ricciardello also serves as a director on the boards of Devon Energy and Noble Corporation, serving as the Audit Committee Chairperson on both boards. Her previous board service includes seven years on the board of US Concrete. Ricciardello enjoyed a distinguished career at Reliant Energy, where she served in key roles, including that of Chief Accounting Officer.

Mike Nicolais, Eagle’s Board chair, commented, “We are extremely pleased to have Mary join our Board. Mary is a proven leader and will be a great complement to the strong leaders on our board today. The addition of Mary to the board is also timely in that it provides additional flexibility in light of prospective Board needs as we plan for the separation of Eagle Materials into two publicly traded companies.”

US: Eagle Materials will call its Light Materials business the American Gypsum Company when it is spun-off in the summer of 2020. It has appointed Dave Powers, former Eagle Materials chief executive officer (CEO), will become the chairman of American Gypsum. Craig Kesler, current chief financial officer (CFO) of Eagle Materials, will become the president and CEO of American Gypsum.

The Light Materials business will continue as a producer of gypsum wallboard and recycled paperboard. It includes an integrated paperboard mill that supplies wallboard plants with facing paper as well as raw material reserves.

France: Saint-Gobain has appointed Maud Thuaudet as Vice-President, Corporate Strategy with effect from 3 September 2019. She succeeds Julie Bonamy, who is appointed chief executive officer (CEO) Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. Thuaudet will report to Sreedhar N, Saint-Gobain’s chief financial officer (CFO) and will be a member of the group’s executive committee.

Thuaudet is currently Telecommunications Program Director at Thales Alenia Space, within the Thales Group, where she started her career in 2006. She was Project Manager for Thales International in India, Bid manager, then Business Development Manager for Thales Air System, before being appointed Merger and Acquisitions Manager for Thales Alenia Space. She is a graduate of École Polytechnique and a member of the Corps des Ponts et Chaussées. She also holds an MBA from the INSEAD business school.