John Crowe Joins Saint-Gobain and CertainTeed as President and CEO
August 31, 2011

Officials at Saint-Gobain in France have appointed John Crowe as president and chief executive officer (CEO) of both Saint-Gobain Corp. in Valley Forge, Pa., Saint-Gobain's North American holding company, and CertainTeed Corp., also in Valley Forge, Saint-Gobain's largest North American subsidiary.

Crowe takes on his two roles effective September 1. He will act as the company's representative in North America, overseeing North American businesses and chairing the company's executive committee. He succeeds Gilles Colas, who will return to Saint-Gobain's Paris headquarters as senior vice president in charge of global strategic developments.

At CertainTeed, Crowe will assume operational responsibility, following in the footsteps of Peter Dachowski, who retires as president and CEO on August 31, after 35 years 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," says Pierre-André 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 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 100 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," Crowe says. "My role is to help keep Saint-Gobain and CertainTeed at the forefront of this wave of innovation, while continuing to serve our customers with the high-quality, sustainable building products they need today."

Crowe most recently worked as president of Saint-Gobain's global abrasives business. For 30 years, he has worked in a wide range of leadership positions within Saint-Gobain group, including president of the Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics and Saint-Gobain Crystals businesses.

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