Board of Directors

Mr. Knisely has served as a director since October 2015 and was appointed non-executive Chairman of the Board of Directors in February 2020. He became an operating partner at Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, LLC (“CD&R”), a private equity firm, in 2019, and prior to that, had served as an advisor to CD&R since 2011. He currently serves as Chairman of both CD&R Hydra Holdings, Inc. (parent entity of SunSource Holdings, Inc.), a privately held power distribution company, and White Cap, a $4 billion privately owned distributor of concrete accessories and complementary products, and is a former Chairman of Roofing Supply Group, LLC. He also serves on the board of Carestream Dental, a privately held provider of dental imaging equipment and software. He previously served on the board of Atkore International Group Inc. Mr. Knisely spent a decade as Executive Vice President and Corporate Officer of Danaher Corporation, where he was responsible for businesses totaling more than $4 billion in sales. Prior to Danaher, Mr. Knisely co-founded Colfax Corporation, a designer, manufacturer, and distributer of fluid handling products, where he served as President and Chief Executive Officer. Previously, Mr. Knisely was President and Chief Executive Officer of AMF Industries, a privately held diversified manufacturer, and spent ten years at Emerson Electric. He has previously served on the board of trustees of the Darden School Foundation at the University of Virginia, where he received his MBA. Mr. Knisely was also a GM Fellowship Scholar at General Motors Institute, where he earned a BS in industrial engineering.

Mr. Francis joined Beacon in August 2019. Prior to Beacon, Mr. Francis was the President of the Insulation Business at Owens Corning, a global leader in insulation, roofing and fiberglass composite materials, since October 2014. Mr. Francis led Owens Corning’s largest business segment, with over $2.7 billion in revenue in 2018, to significant sales and EBIT growth in each of the preceding three years. From 2012-2014, he served as Vice President and General Manager for Owens Corning’s Residential Insulation Business. Mr. Francis also has served as Vice President and Managing Director for Owens Corning’s Glass Reinforcements, Americas, in the Composite Solutions Business. Prior to joining Owens Corning, Mr. Francis was Vice President and Publishing Director at Reed Business Information, a $2.5 billion global leader in publishing, information, and marketing services. Prior to joining Reed, Mr. Francis spent 10 years at USG Corporation rising through the marketing, strategy, and general management ranks. He last served as Vice President, Marketing, where he created the overall strategy for USG’s $3.3 billion manufacturing business. Mr. Francis earned his bachelor’s degree in mathematics and his doctorate in materials engineering at Swansea University in the United Kingdom and earned his MBA at DePaul University.

Mr. Berquist has served as a director since June 2016. He is the former Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Marriott International, Inc., a leading global lodging company, having served in that position from 2009 until his retirement in 2015. Mr. Berquist joined Marriott in 2002 after a 28-year career with Arthur Andersen LLP, where he held numerous leadership positions including managing partner of the worldwide real estate and hospitality practice. He currently serves on the board of Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Inc., a publicly traded restaurant/gift shop chain. Mr. Berquist previously served for ten years on the board of Hertz Global Holdings, Inc., and is a former advisor to Eberle Communications, a private direct mail company. He is a graduate of the Penn State University, where he is a member of the Board of Advisors of both the Business School and the School of Hospitality Management.

Major General Fast has served as a director since October 2018. She currently serves on the board of publicly traded American Public Education, Inc. (“APEI”), a for-profit education company, and is a member of APEI’s compensation committee and nominating and corporate governance committee. She also currently serves on the board of Radiance Technologies, Inc., a privately held firm that provides engineering services, and serves as the Chairperson of the Board of Hondros College of Nursing. In addition, Major General Fast serves on the Strategic Advisory Group for the Sierra Nevada Corporation, a privately held aerospace engineering firm, and serves on the Advisory Board of Axellio, a privately owned network and storage company addressing cybersecurity, processing, and data storage. She served as Senior Vice President, Strategic Engagements for CGI Federal, an IT and consulting services firm, from June 2014 to September 2016. Prior to that, she also served as Senior Vice President, Army Defense and Intelligence Programs and Vice President of Operations and Intelligence for CGI Federal. She also previously served as the Vice President, Cyber and Information Solutions for The Boeing Company, a leading manufacturer of commercial jetliners and defense, space, and security systems. Major General Fast retired from the U.S. Army in 2008 after over 32 years of service during which she held a variety of key command and staff positions. Major General Fast holds a Bachelor of Science in Education (German and Spanish) from the University of Missouri, a Master of Science in Business Administration from Boston University, and an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from Central Missouri State University. She is also a graduate of the Army War College.

Mr. Frost has served as a director since July 2012. He retired as Chief Executive Officer and a director of Louisiana-Pacific Corporation, a manufacturer of building materials, in May 2012, having served in those capacities since December 2004. Mr. Frost previously served as that company’s Executive Vice President, Commodity Products, Procurement and Engineering from March 2003 to November 2004; Executive Vice President, OSB, Procurement and Engineering from May 2002 to February 2003; and Vice President, Timberlands and Procurement from 1996 to April 2002. Mr. Frost currently serves on the board of privately held Westervelt, Inc. and previously served on the Board of Tractor Supply Company, the largest operator of retail farm and ranch stores in the United States. Mr. Frost holds dual bachelor’s degrees from Louisiana State University and an MBA, Finance from Northwestern State University of Louisiana.

Mr. Gershenhorn has served as a director since May 2015. He served as the Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer of United Parcel Service, Inc. (“UPS”), the world’s largest package delivery company, through June 2018. At UPS, Mr. Gershenhorn directed strategy, mergers and acquisitions, marketing, sales, public affairs, communications, and key growth strategies globally across the organization. He served as a member of the UPS Management Committee, which directs global strategy and the day-to-day operations, for over a decade, and led numerous transformational programs during his 39-year tenure. Mr. Gershenhorn previously served in several significant UPS leadership positions with both global and regional responsibilities in the U.S., Europe, and Canada, including Chief Sales and Marketing Officer, Senior Vice President and President UPS International; President UPS Supply Chain Solutions Global Transportation and Shared Services; President Supply Chain Solutions Europe, Asia, Middle East and Africa; and President UPS Canada. He currently serves on the boards of Transportation Insight, Worldwide Express and Ascend Transport Group, which are privately held enterprise logistics companies, and acts in an advisory role to 8VC, a venture capital firm. Mr. Gershenhorn holds a degree in finance from the University of Houston.

Mr. McLaughlin has served as a director since June 2016. He is the former Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Airgas, Inc., the nation’s leading single-source supplier of gases, welding and safety products. Mr. McLaughlin served in that position from 2006 until his retirement in 2016, after serving as Airgas’s Vice President and Controller since joining Airgas in 2001. Previously, he was Vice President-Finance for Asbury Automotive Group, a multibillion-dollar automotive retailer, after serving as Vice President of Finance and in other financial management roles with Unisource Worldwide, Inc., a multibillion-dollar international paper and industrial supply distribution company. Prior to Unisource, he had a thirteen-year career with Ernst & Young. Mr. McLaughlin serves on the board of publicly traded Axalta Coating Systems Ltd., a global leader in the development, manufacture and sale of liquid and powder coatings, where he is the chairman of their audit committee and also serves on their compensation committee. Mr. McLaughlin earned his bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Dayton.

Mr. Newsome became a director in March 2021. He is currently Chief Information Officer, Americas IT for Linde PLC, a $28 billion global industrial gases and engineering firm formed by the merger of Linde and Praxair, Inc. Prior to the merger, he served as Global Chief Information Officer and Vice President of Praxair from May 2016 to March 2019. Mr. Newsome currently serves on the board of First Independence Bank and First Independence Corporation, a bank and related bank holding company, and Navisite, a managed cloud service provider. He also currently serves on the Innovation Advisory Council for Vation Ventures, an innovation management company. Prior to joining Praxair, he was Corporate CIO and Vice President, Digital at TE Connectivity, a producer of highly engineered connectivity and sensing products, where he built a world-class IT organization that accelerated each business unit’s success. Mr. Newsome also previously served as Vice President, Global IT Services at Estée Lauder, where he transformed the Shared Services organization into a global team and established its Global Innovation Lab, and as Senior Director, Strategy and Integration and Global Operations, for Bowne & Co., where he directed the M&A strategy of the digital business unit and managed global operations. Earlier in his career, Mr. Newsome served as VP and CIO of Owens-Illinois and was Partner at Deloitte & Touche. Mr. Newsome was Captain in the U.S. Army and received his Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from the United States Military Academy at West Point.

Mr. Novich has served as a director since July 2012. He is the former Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Ryerson Inc., a global metals distributor and fabricator. He joined Ryerson in 1994 as Chief Operating Officer, was named President and CEO in 1995, and was additionally appointed Chairman in 1999. He remained Chairman and CEO until 2007, when the company was sold. Prior to his time at Ryerson, Mr. Novich spent 13 years with Bain & Company, an international management consulting firm, where he was a partner. Mr. Novich currently serves on the boards of publicly traded Hillenbrand, Inc., a global diversified industrial company, where he is chairman of the audit committee and a member of the nominating and corporate governance and mergers and acquisitions committees, and W.W. Grainger, Inc., an industrial supplies and equipment provider, where he is a member of the audit and board affairs and nominating committees. He was formerly a director of publicly traded Analog Devices, Inc. Mr. Novich has a bachelor’s degree in physics from Harvard University and master’s degrees in both nuclear engineering and management from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Mr. Randle has served as a director since February 2006. In 2019, Mr. Randle retired from his role as the CEO of Ivenix, a privately held medical technology company. He is a director of Teleflex Incorporated, a publicly traded provider of specialty medical devices, where he serves as chairman of its nominating & governance committee and a member of its compensation committee. He previously served as a director of Flex Pharma, Inc., a publicly traded biotechnology company that merged with Salarius Pharmaceuticals in 2019. From 2004 to 2014, Mr. Randle served as President, CEO and director of GI Dynamics, a healthcare company. Previously, Mr. Randle was an Entrepreneur-in-Residence for Advanced Technology Ventures, a healthcare and IT venture capital firm. From 1998 to 2001, he was President, CEO and a director of Act Medical, Inc., and prior to that spent a combined ten years with Baxter Healthcare and its spin-off, Allegiance, in a variety of senior roles, including six years in the distribution business. Mr. Randle holds a BS in mechanical engineering from Cornell University and an MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management, Northwestern University.

Mr. Sleeper has served as a director since January 2018. He previously served as a director from October 2015 until May 2016. Mr. Sleeper is a partner of CD&R, and on January 1, 2020 he became CD&R’s chief executive officer. He leads CD&R’s investment activity in the industrial sector and serves on its Investment and Management Committees. Mr. Sleeper is currently a director of publicly traded Cornerstone Building Brands, Inc. (formerly Ply Gem Industries, Inc.), as well as Brand Industrial Holdings, Inc., Core & Main LP, PowerTeam Services Holdco, LLC, CD&R Hydra Holdings, Inc., and Wilsonart International Holdings, LLC. He previously served on the boards of publicly traded Atkore International Group Inc., HD Supply Holdings, Inc., and Hertz Global Holdings, Inc., as well as CHC Group, Ltd., Culligan International Company, Hussmann Parent, Inc., and US Foods, Inc. Prior to joining CD&R in 2000, Mr. Sleeper worked for Goldman Sachs & Co, and Tiger Management. Mr. Sleeper holds a bachelor’s degree from Williams College and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Mr. Young has served as a director since October 2014. Mr. Young is Executive Vice President of Lennox International Inc., a global leader in the climate control industry. Mr. Young joined Lennox in 1999 and since 2006 has served as the President and Chief Operating Officer of Lennox’s Residential Heating and Cooling Segment. Mr. Young had previously served as Vice President & General Manager of North American Residential Products since 2003 and as Vice President & General Manager of Lennox North American Residential Sales, Marketing, & Distribution from 1999-2003. Prior to his career with Lennox, Mr. Young was employed in the Appliances division of GE, where he held various management positions before serving as General Manager of Marketing for GE Appliance division’s retail group from 1997-1999 and as General Manager of Strategic Initiatives in 1999. He holds a BSBA from Creighton University and an MS in Management from Purdue University.