 |
||||||||
 |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
Auto industry veteran to lead Walter
By KYLE PARKS © St. Petersburg Times, published November 7, 2000 TAMPA -- Walter Industries Inc. named auto industry veteran Don DeFosset as its new chief executive Monday, the struggling company's fifth CEO this year. Shareholders hope the homebuilding/industrial conglomerate isn't picking a lemon: DeFosset, 51, doesn't have any experience in Walter's businesses, which range from homebuilding to coal mining to petroleum coke manufacturing. But company executives say that isn't important. They point to DeFosset's wide-ranging experience at big-name companies such as Navistar International Corp. and AlliedSignal Inc. His specialty: putting in quality-control systems to improve productivity. And as Walter tries to recover from brusque turnaround artist Bob Burton's brief tenure last summer, executives talk about how DeFosset is a nice guy. "He's a person who will respect people's dignity and will get their input," said interim CEO Don Boyce, who helped conduct the search process. In particular, DeFosset's experience at Navistar got Boyce's attention after Walter execs found him through an executive search firm. DeFosset worked out labor union tensions at Navistar's Springfield, Ohio, truck plant, helping convince the workers of the merits of making new products. The appointment marks another fresh start at Walter, which has been unable to convince Wall Street that it can thrive by doing everything from building homes to mining coal to making petroleum coke. DeFosset's task is to get Walter's operations in better shape. And while he'll also be involved in strategic planning, the company's board of directors is taking a major role in that process. Walter execs want to trim the company's businesses down to two or three, and they've already made a number of decisions they aren't ready to disclose. Some shareholders have speculated that Walter might keep its homebuilding and water-pipe manufacturing divisions, selling the rest. But the process will take months. Selling large subsidiaries takes time, and it also will take a while for DeFosset to learn about Walter's businesses. DeFosset moved up in the auto industry by hopping from one company to another. Most recently, he was chief operating officer at Dura Automotive Systems Inc., a Rochester Hills, Mich., auto parts manufacturer. He joined Dura last year in a transition phase at the company, which has $2.6-billion in annual revenues. (Walter has about $2-billion in revenues.) After putting in quality-control initiatives, he decided in May that he'd have better opportunities somewhere else. Before joining Dura, DeFosset spent three years running Navistar's truck group. Prior to that, he was president of AlliedSignal's seat belt division for three years and was operations chief for Mack Trucks Inc. for three years. He has a bachelor's degree in industrial engineering from Purdue and a master in business administration degree from Harvard. "There is such a diversity of experience," Boyce said of DeFosset, who wasn't available for an interview Monday. "He has worked in finance, and he has international experience, having working in Italy at one point." DeFosset's short stints at various companies in the 1990s didn't bother Walter executives. Judging from published reports, it appears that DeFosset made the moves in search of a company where he could take over. The auto industry veteran is well regarded, said Bob Sherefkin of Automotive News. "And he ought to be happy to be getting out of the auto world," Sherefkin said, "as tough as it's become." Unlike former Walter CEO Burton, who alienated many employees, DeFosset is known as a people person who works to get employees to support his quality-control ideas. "He's a very personable guy," said Roy Wiley, a spokesman at Navistar, where DeFosset introduced an initiative designed to help employees solve problems. At AlliedSignal, he helped put in the well-known Six Sigma management system, which relies on scientific methods to improve quality and productivity. But don't mistake DeFosset's people skills for passivity, said Ron DeFeo, chief executive of Terex Corp., a Westport, Conn., mining and construction equipment manufacturer that has had DeFosset on its board for two years. "He's as intense as anyone who's going to be a CEO," DeFeo said. "He's focused on results." As Walter announced DeFosset's appointment, it made several other significant personnel moves. It hired Charles Cauthen, a former Bank of America executive, as controller. It's bringing back Joe Troy, who left in February for a Tampa software publishing company, to his old job as treasurer. And it said that CFO Bob Lewis and operations chief Jim Lillie have left. Former CEO Burton brought Lewis, Lillie and another former World Color Press Inc. lieutenant to Tampa last summer, but now all are gone. The good news as DeFosset arrives is that even though Walter's stock price continues to suffer -- it closed at $7.38 on Monday, down 13 cents -- the company doesn't have to rush its strategic decisions. "There's no liquidity problem," said Steve Percoco, an analyst with Lark Research in Rahway, N.J., "and since they have cash, they don't have to do anything quick." - Times researcher John Martin contributed to this report.
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • Tampa Bay Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111 
|
From the Times Business report
From the AP
|
