Foster Wheeler AG (Nasdaq: FWLT) announced today that its board
of directors has approved a senior leadership succession plan under
which J. Kent Masters, 50, will become the company’s Chief
Executive Officer, effective October 1, 2011. It is expected that
he will stand for election to the company’s board of directors as
soon as practicable after October 1. Umberto della Sala, 63, will
continue to serve as Interim Chief Executive Officer through
September 30 and then will continue with the company in his ongoing
roles as President and Chief Operating Officer, CEO of the
company’s Global Engineering and Construction Group and member of
the board of directors.
As part of the leadership succession plan, Raymond J.
Milchovich, 61, is expected to continue to serve as Non-Executive
Chairman of the board of directors of Foster Wheeler AG through
November 3. He has informed the board that he intends to leave the
board on that date. The board has been actively planning for
Milchovich’s eventual departure and expects to announce its
succession plan for Chairman on or before November 3, 2011.
Masters comes to Foster Wheeler from The Linde Group, a
world-leading gases and engineering company, where he has served as
a member of the Executive Board with responsibility for the
operating segments Americas, the Global Business Unit Healthcare
and the Business Area Merchant & Packaged Gases. He joined
Linde in 2006 as a result of Linde’s acquisition of The BOC Group,
where he had been Chief Executive, Industrial and Special Products
and a member of the board of directors.
“Kent has significant operating, technical and contracting
experience -- and a demonstrable track record of successfully
leading complex global organizations,” said Milchovich,
Non-Executive Chairman of the Board of Foster Wheeler AG.
“Moreover, we believe that Kent’s leadership approach is a perfect
fit with the cultural norms of Foster Wheeler. I know I speak for
the entire board when I say that we have full confidence in Kent to
drive the company to reach its full potential.”
Milchovich added, “With Umberto under contract through 2013 and
having spent considerable time with Kent and Umberto together, I
believe that they will be an excellent team. Furthermore, I have
assured both Kent and the board that I will remain available to
them in the event I can help with the transition in any way.”
A native of Atlanta, Georgia, Masters holds a Bachelor of
Science degree in Chemical Engineering from the Georgia Institute
of Technology and a Master’s degree in Business Administration from
The Stern School of Business at New York University. He also serves
on the board of directors of Rockwood Holdings, a manufacturer of
chemicals and advanced materials based in Princeton, New
Jersey.
Umberto della Sala joined Foster Wheeler in Milan in 1973 as a
process engineer. From 1997 to 2000, he was assigned to FW USA as
Vice President and General Manager of Latin American Operations and
President of FW Caribe and later as commercial director. In 2000,
he returned to Milan as Commercial Director of the newly formed
Foster Wheeler Continental Europe Unit. He was appointed in 2001 as
President and CEO of FW Continental Europe. In 2005 he was
appointed as Foster Wheeler CEO Global Engineering &
Construction (E&C) Group. He assumed the additional role of
President and Chief Operating Officer of Foster Wheeler in 2007 and
has served as the company’s Interim Chief Executive Officer since
October of 2010. He was elected to the Foster Wheeler board of
directors in February 2011.
Conference Call Information
Foster Wheeler AG plans to hold a conference call today, Monday
July 25, at 4:00 p.m. Central European Time (10:00 a.m. Eastern
Daylight Time in the U.S.) to discuss today's announcement. The
call will be accessible to the public by telephone or webcast. To
listen to the call by telephone, dial 973-935-8752 (conference I.D.
No. 84752401) approximately ten minutes before the call. The
conference call will also be available over the Internet at
http://www.fwc.com or through StreetEvents at
http://www.streetevents.com.
A replay of the call will be available on the company's web site
for four weeks following the call.
Foster Wheeler AG is a global engineering and construction
contractor and power equipment supplier delivering technically
advanced, reliable facilities and equipment. The company employs
approximately 12,000 talented professionals with specialized
expertise dedicated to serving its clients through one of its two
primary business groups. The company’s Global Engineering and
Construction Group designs and constructs leading-edge processing
facilities for the upstream oil and gas, LNG and gas-to-liquids,
refining, chemicals and petrochemicals, power, mining and metals,
environmental, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology and healthcare
industries. The company’s Global Power Group is a world leader in
combustion and steam generation technology that designs,
manufactures and erects steam generating and auxiliary equipment
for power stations and industrial facilities and also provides a
wide range of aftermarket services. The company is based in Zug,
Switzerland, and its operational headquarters office is in Geneva,
Switzerland. For more information about Foster Wheeler, please
visit our Web site at www.fwc.com.
Safe Harbor Statement
Foster Wheeler AG news releases may contain forward-looking
statements that are based on management’s assumptions, expectations
and projections about the Company and the various industries within
which the Company operates. These include statements regarding the
Company’s expectations about revenues (including as expressed by
its backlog), its liquidity, the outcome of litigation and legal
proceedings and recoveries from customers for claims and the costs
of current and future asbestos claims and the amount and timing of
related insurance recoveries. Such forward-looking statements by
their nature involve a degree of risk and uncertainty. The Company
cautions that a variety of factors, including but not limited to
the factors described in the Company’s most recent Annual Report on
Form 10-K, which was filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange
Commission and the following, could cause the Company’s business
conditions and results to differ materially from what is contained
in forward-looking statements: benefits, effects or results of the
Company’s redomestication or the relocation of our principal
executive offices to Geneva, Switzerland; the benefits, effects or
results of our strategic renewal initiative; further deterioration
in global economic conditions, changes in investment by the oil and
gas, oil refining, chemical/petrochemical and power generation
industries, changes in the financial condition of its customers,
changes in regulatory environments, changes in project design or
schedules, contract cancellations, changes in estimates made by the
Company of costs to complete projects, changes in trade, monetary
and fiscal policies worldwide, compliance with laws and regulations
relating to its global operations, currency fluctuations, war
and/or terrorist attacks on facilities either owned by the Company
or where equipment or services are or may be provided by the
Company, interruptions to shipping lanes or other methods of
transit, outcomes of pending and future litigation, including
litigation regarding the Company’s liability for damages and
insurance coverage for asbestos exposure, protection and validity
of its patents and other intellectual property rights, increasing
global competition, compliance with its debt covenants,
recoverability of claims against its customers and others by the
Company and claims by third parties against the Company, and
changes in estimates used in its critical accounting policies.
Other factors and assumptions not identified above were also
involved in the formation of these forward-looking statements and
the failure of such other assumptions to be realized, as well as
other factors, may also cause actual results to differ materially
from those projected. Most of these factors are difficult to
predict accurately and are generally beyond the Company’s control.
You should consider the areas of risk described above in connection
with any forward-looking statements that may be made by the
Company. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update
any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new
information, future events or otherwise. You are advised, however,
to consult any additional disclosures the Company makes in proxy
statements, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, annual reports on Form
10-K and current reports on Form 8-K filed with the Securities and
Exchange Commission.
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