Insulation industry news from Global Insulation

North America: France's Saint-Gobain has announced the appointment of John Crowe as President and CEO of both the Saint-Gobain Corporation, Saint-Gobain's North American holding company, and CertainTeed Corporation, which is Saint-Gobain's largest North American subsidiary.

Crowe will take on these two new roles effective from 1 September 2011. As President and CEO of Saint-Gobain Corporation, he will act as Saint-Gobain's representative in North America, overseeing the company's North American businesses and chairing the company's Executive Committee. In this role, he succeeds Gilles Colas, who will return to Saint-Gobain's Paris headquarters as Senior Vice President in charge of global strategic developments.

In addition, Crowe will assume operational responsibility for CertainTeed, following in the footsteps of Peter Dachowski, who retires today after 35 years of service in a wide variety of senior leadership roles at Saint-Gobain and CertainTeed.

"With more than 30 years of experience in Saint-Gobain's innovative materials businesses, John is an exceptional leader with strong operational skills," said Pierre-Andre de Chalendar, Chairman and CEO of Saint-Gobain. "His appointment underscores Saint-Gobain's focus on leveraging its innovation and technical expertise to develop products and solutions that change the way we think about built environments. John will help CertainTeed and other Saint-Gobain businesses in North America to develop innovative materials that advance the way we build today in order to meet the challenges of tomorrow."

Crowe sees his main role as continuing to drive innovation throughout the company. "CertainTeed has been a leader in the construction industry for over one hundred years, Saint-Gobain for over three centuries, but we have never seen such a rapid pace of change or so many exciting new building technologies," he said.