Could PPG’s next chief executive be a woman?
Senior VP Liebert is 2nd highest-paid exec
Pittsburgh coatings giant PPG could be grooming a woman who currently runs its automotive paints business to become its next chief executive.
Rebecca Liebert, 51, was hired in June as senior vice president, automotive coatings, after working in top executive positions for Honeywell and Reynolds Food Packaging.
According to PPG’s annual proxy statement filed this month with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Ms. Liebert received a $1.2 million signing bonus on top of her annual base salary of $625,000.
She also received a guarantee that if she is not selected as the next CEO, she will be entitled to severance that equals double her salary as long as she meets certain conditions.
If selected to succeed Michael McGarry, the current chief executive who is also PPG’s chairman, Ms. Liebert would be the first female to run the Downtown-based company and one of a tiny percentage of women who hold the top job at large, publicly held U.S. corporations.
On last year’s Fortune 500 list, only 24 chief executives, or about 5 percent, were women.
PPG, with $15 billion in annual revenues, was ranked No. 191 on last year’s Fortune 500.
The company declined to confirm whether Ms. Liebert was a leading candidate to become chief executive.
In a statement, the company said, “Management succession is regularly discussed by the board, and the board reviews candidates for all executive officer positions to confirm that qualified successor-candidates are available for key positions. The terms of executive compensation packages are tailored in an effort to attract and retain diverse, high-performing candidates to successfully execute PPG’s strategy.”
Ms. Liebert’s compensation last year totaled $5.7 million, making her the second-highest paid executive behind Mr. McGarry, who earned a total $11.8 million, according to the proxy filing.
A native of Kentucky, Ms. Liebert studied chemical engineering at the University of Kentucky, earned an MBA from Northwestern University and holds a doctorate in chemical engineering from Carnegie Mellon University.
Prior to PPG, she was most recently president and chief executive of Honeywell UOP, a division of Honeywell that provides
technology solutions to petroleum and gas producers and other industries.
Under Mr. McGarry, PPG has been more aggressive in promoting diversity.
When she was hired, Ms. Liebert immediately was named a member of the coatings company’s management operating committee.
At the time, no women were on the 11-member committee, which includes top officers of the company.
Another female executive, Amy Ericson, who joined PPG in July as senior vice president, packaging coatings, also joined the operating committee when she was hired. The committee has since expanded to 12 members, including another female, Anne Foulkes, senior vice president and general counsel.
The company’s board is due to expand from 11 to 13 directors under a proposal to be voted on at the annual meeting in April. One new nominee is Catherine R. Smith, executive vice president and chief financial officer of discount retailer Target.
The other is Steven Davis, former chairman and chief executive of the Bob Evans Farms food business.
If Ms. Smith is elected, PPG’s board will have four women.
“One of our greatest strengths is the diversity of our people,” Mr. McGarry told shareholders in the company’s annual report. “We view this diversity, and efforts from both our board and management in overseeing corporate culture, as essential elements to our success.”
PPG, which has no mandatory retirement age for officers, has typically recruited from within for its chief executives and in recent years has tapped individuals with long careers at the company.
Mr. McGarry, 60, joined the company in 1981 as an engineer at a plant in Louisiana and rose through the ranks in management positions in chemicals and coatings. He was named chief executive in 2015 and chairman the following year.
His predecessor, Charles Bunch, worked for PPG for more than 35 years including a decade as chairman and chief executive and a year as executive chairman before his retirement in 2016.
Mr. McGarry’s leadership came under fire last year from activist investor Nelson Peltz, who called for the chairman to be ousted and for Mr. Bunch to return to run the company.
Mr. Peltz, whose Trian Fund Management holds a 3 percent stake in PPG, also recommended the Pittsburgh company split its architectural and industrial coatings segments.
The company is currently analyzing that option and said it would release its findings by June 30.
Trian criticized PPG for a series of problems it has faced under Mr. McGarry, including failure to close on a $30 billion bid for Dutch paints maker AkzoNobel; an accounting scandal that is being probed by the SEC and the U.S. attorney’s office in Pittsburgh; and the loss of business at home improvement chain Lowe’s, which struck an exclusive deal to carry paints from PPG rival Sherwin-Williams.
PPG’s board has stood behind Mr. McGarry. Trian did not challenge any board seats that are up for election at the company’s annual meeting.
“One of our greatest strengths is the diversity of our people.” — Michael McGarry, current PPG chief executive/chairman