Shares in specialty chemical company H.B. Fuller were hit on 15 November 2006 following the surprise resignation of chairman, president and CEO Al Stroucken, effective 1 December 2006, to head Owens-I…
Shares in specialty chemical company H.B. Fuller were hit on 15 November 2006 following the surprise resignation of chairman, president and CEO Al Stroucken, effective 1 December 2006, to head Owens-Illinois. Michele Volpi, group president and general manager of H.B. Fuller“s global adhesives business group replaces him as president and chief executive. Mr. Volpi also joins the board of directors. He joined H.B. Fuller in June 2002. Before that, he was marketing manager for General Electric“s Polymershapes business and European marketing director for its structured products business. Lee Mitau was named board chairman. He is executive vice president and general counsel of US Bancorp and has been an independent director of H.B. Fuller since 1996. H.B. Fuller, based in St. Paul, Minnesota, makes adhesives, sealants, coatings, paints and other specialty chemical products. Fiscal 2005 net revenues were USD 1.5 billion. First Analysis Securities Corp. followed up on the announcement by reducing its rating on Fuller to “equal weight”, citing both the resignation and “recent valuation levels that approached our former 12-month price targets”. “Stroucken wrought a substantial transformation in the company”, said Allan Cohen of First Analysis. “However, that transformation remains a work in progress, and we expect the stock to perform more in line with the market while the prospects for continuation of that transformation become clearer”. Mr. Stroucken, 59, garnered wide credit among industry analysts for revitalizing Fuller in two major restructurings carried out since he joined the company in 1998. The departing Mr. Stroucken told industry analysts in a conference call that he was “ready for a change and a new challenge”. He replaces Owens-Illinois“ chairman and CEO Steven McCracken, who has been battling stomach cancer.