Get to Know OBE’s New CEO

On July 1, Mark Adamson officially took over as CEO of Oldcastle BuildingEnvelope. Just five weeks into his tenure at the North American glass and metals giant and parent company of CRL, I chatted with Adamson about his career history, his thoughts on entrenchment in the building products industry, and how his experience impacts his strategy for OBE. 

Global leadership history

Adamson, a native of Newcastle, England, spent his career in a range of corporate leadership positions worldwide. Adamson served as CEO of Fletcher Building and Formica Corp., and most recently, he worked as a private equity operating partner, where he collaborated with management teams to execute growth initiatives. 

His work over the previous 35 years has taken him from Paris, Cincinnati, New Zealand, and Denver and Greenwich, Connecticut, and now to Dallas, the headquarters for OBE. However, Adamson notes, “I’m in my fifth week, and this is only my third day in Dallas. The business is really out in the field. I’ve been busy visiting our facilities.” 

Building material experience

Adamson’s first foray into the building material business was early in his career, when he joined Swedish company Perstorp, a supplier of laminated flooring, which was later acquired by a private equity firm that owned laminate leader Formica. Formica was sold to Fletcher, a large building products conglomerate supplier based in Australia and New Zealand, and Adamson took over as CEO. 

“Fletcher Building was a big challenge, because in that part of the world you don’t get big by being narrow and sticking to one thing. You have to go broad,” says Adamson. “It was a classic portfolio company. We owned a cement works, a steel works, and we did own a glass and glazing business. We extruded aluminum, we bought float glass, we did windows, we did doors.” 

Lessons learned

Adamson says he is bringing a customer- and market-focused mindset to OBE. “Every business that I’ve inherited was an old business that dominated its space,” says Adamson.

“That’s great. There’s a reason we are where we are. But it leads to complacency—an overemphasis on the company, an internal focus. The thing I’ve managed to do in the last 30 years with the companies is to try and turn them to focus more on the external world, to what’s happening in the market, innovation—what does the customer need rather than [focusing on] what we are.”

Entrenchment versus innovation

The building materials industry is known for its reluctance to change, says Adamson. However, that can change when building materials companies innovate with a focus on the contractor customer. “If you can bring a product to market and can invest in the contractor through education, you can make money. Your customers can make more money,” he says. “I want to take OBE from being a manufacturer … to being more of an innovation, service-led company.”