Vulcan names Hill president as James is now executive chairman

Vulcan Materials Co. named Tom Hill president and CEO and elected him to the board of directors. Hill, the company’s former executive vice president and COO, succeeds Don James, who will assume the role of executive chairman.

The company also promoted John McPherson, executive vice president and CFO, to executive vice president, chief financial and strategy officer. In this new position, McPherson will retain his current responsibilities while assuming the strategy and human resources functions of the company.

“Having successfully navigated the worst downturn in our industry’s history, now is the right time to put in place our new leadership team, led by Tom, to guide the company and expand our market leadership in the industry,” James says, in a press release. “Tom has been a tremendous asset to our company over the years, particularly as we successfully enhanced Vulcan’s profitability and financial strength during the market downturn and positioned the company for strong performance during the recovery.”

Vice Chairman Danny Shepherd and Daniel Sansone, executive vice president, strategy, will continue to report to the executive chairman as they work with the new leadership team in executing the company’s business development and strategic initiatives, and on other transition issues.

“On behalf of the board, I want to thank Don for his invaluable contributions to the company as chief executive officer over the years, and in particular for his role in enhancing Vulcan’s financial strength and strategic focus during the economic recession and downturn in the construction industry,” says Douglas J. McGregor, lead director. “Today, thanks in large part to Don’s leadership, Vulcan is extremely well positioned to benefit from the construction market recovery and to deliver value over the long term.

“Under Don’s leadership, first as president and then CEO, Vulcan Materials’ enterprise value has grown from $2 billion to $10 billion, its permitted reserves base has doubled from 7.5 billion tons to more than 15 billion tons today, and the aggregates facilities it operates have increased from 122 to 327.”

In addition, Vulcan announced that Cynthia L. Hostetler was elected to the board of directors and that Phillip W. Farmer is retiring from the board.